Peers will quiz campaigners on whether Ofcom's new measures will actually work, or just add more compliance pain

The House of Lords is about to put the latest child-protection plans of UK regulator the Office of Communications (Ofcom) under the microscope.

On Tuesday, the Lords Communications and Digital Committee will hear from three prominent online safety advocates as it probes the regulator's proposed new measures under the Online Safety Act (OSA). Andy Burrows of the Molly Rose Foundation, Rani Govender from the NSPCC, and Baroness Kidron OBE of 5Rights will be asked whether the changes will actually deliver more safety – or just more compliance burden, privacy nightmares, and unintended consequences.

Ofcom's amendments aim to beef up the OSA with a fresh set of obligations for platforms. This includes more aggressive age-assurance rules to determine when users are children, new restrictions on livestreaming that require platforms to disable comments, virtual gifts, and reactions when minors are involved, as well as blocking viewers from recording children's livestreams ...