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 […]
Ofcom has proposed “concrete measures” that tech firms should take to tackle online harms against women and girls, setting a new standard for their online safety. With insights from victims, survivors, women’s advocacy groups and safety experts, the new draft guidance sets out practical, ambitious but achievable measures that providers can implement to improve women’s and girls’ […]
Children will be prevented from encountering adult content and protected from other types of harmful content under Ofcom’s new industry guidance which sets out how it expects sites and apps to introduce effective age assurance. The decisions are the next step in Ofcom implementing the Online Safety Act and creating a safer life online for […]
Consumers are keen to start the new year with a digital detox, with more than a third (38 per cent) recognising the negative impact being online has on their well-being, according to the EY Decoding the Digital Home survey. The survey of 2,500 UK consumers looks at attitudes towards technology, media and telecoms experiences in […]
Ofcom has announced the appointment of Oliver Griffiths as its new Group Director, Online Safety. Griffiths joins from the Trade Remedies Authority, which defends UK economic interests against unfair international trade practices, where he has been Chief Executive since 2021. He was previously a Director in the Department of International Trade, responsible for UK-US trade […]
Ofcom has provided an update on its progress in implementing the Online Safety Act, and set out what to expect over the next 12 months. The Online Safety Act was passed in October 2023. When fully in force, it will place new legal duties on platforms available in the UK. Before Ofcom can enforce these […]
The user-safety practices of tech firms will be put under the spotlight under draft transparency reporting plans announced by Ofcom. Under the Online Safety Act, ‘categorised services’, which include some of the most widely used social media and search services, are required to produce transparency reports at least annually. This means that, for the first […]
Children are set to be protected from accessing online pornography under new age-check guidance proposed by comms regulator Ofcom to help services to comply with online safety laws. Latest research shows that the average age at which children first see online pornography is 13 – although nearly a quarter come across it by age 11 […]