From today (March 17th), online platforms must start putting in place measures to protect people in the UK from criminal activity, while media regulator Ofcom has launched its latest enforcement programme to assess industry compliance.

Providers of services in scope of the UK’s Online Safety Act had until March 16th to carry out an illegal harms risk assessment – to understand how likely it is that users could encounter illegal content on their service, or, in the case of ‘user-to-user’ services, how they could be used to commit or facilitate certain criminal offences.

Now the next set of illegal harms duties come into force. This means platforms now have to start implementing appropriate measures to remove illegal material quickly when they become aware of it, and to reduce the risk of ‘priority’ criminal content from appearing in the first place.

In the coming weeks and months, Ofcom will be assessing platforms’ compliance with their new illegal harms obligations under the Act, and launching targeted enforcement action where concerns are uncovered.

Given the acute harm caused by the spread of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM), assessing providers’ compliance with their safety duties in this area has been identified as one of our early priorities for enforcement.

“Child sexual abuse is utterly sickening and file storage and sharing services are too often used to share this horrific material. Ofcom’s first priority is to make sure that sites and apps take the necessary steps to stop it being hosted or shared. Platforms must now act quickly to come into compliance with their legal duties, and our codes are designed to help them do that. But, make no mistake, any provider who fails to introduce the necessary protections can expect to face the full force of our enforcement action,” commented Suzanne Cater, Enforcement Director at Ofcom

“It is so important that the fight against child sexual abuse is being prioritised and we are greatly encouraged to see the determination to ensure the abuse we are seeing today does not continue to spiral. We stand ready to work alongside Ofcom as it enforces the Online Safety Act, and to help companies to do everything they can to comply with the new duties. We have been at the forefront of the fight against online child sexual abuse for nearly three decades, and our tools, tech, and data are cutting edge. The Online Safety Act has the potential to be transformational in protecting children from online exploitation. Now is the time for online platforms to join the fight and make sure they are doing everything they can to stop the spread of this dangerous and devastating material,” added Derek Ray-Hill, Interim CEO at the Internet Watch Foundation.

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Policy, Regulation

Tags: kids, Ofcom, Online Safety Act