Ofcom has provided an update on its progress in implementing the Online Safety Act and set out what to expect over the next year.

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 these duties can be enforced, Ofcom is required to consult publicly on codes of practice and guidance.

Over the last six months, the regulatory body has consulted on its codes and guidance for illegal harms, pornography age verification and children’s safety, and submitted advice to Government on the thresholds that would determine which services will be ‘categorised’ and subject to additional duties.

What’s Been Achieved So Far?

Ofcom has already secured better protections from UK-based video-sharing platforms, including OnlyFans and other adult sites introducing age verification, as well as BitChute improving its content moderation and user reporting, and Twitch introducing measures to stop children seeing harmful videos.

Social media giants Meta and Snapchat have made changes that Ofcom proposed in its illegal harms consultation to protect children from grooming. These include Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat introducing changes to help prevent children being contacted by strangers, as well as Instagram’s ‘Teen Accounts’ to limit who can contact teens and what they can see.

While Ofcom acknowledges that ‘these are positive steps,’ it says many platforms will have to do far more when the Online Safety Act comes into force.

What’s to Come in the Next 12 Months?

Parliament set Ofcom a deadline of April 2025 to finalise its codes and guidance on illegal harms and children’s safety, with the organisation claiming it will finalise its illegal harms codes and guidance ‘ahead of this deadline’.

The expected timing for key milestones over the next year – which could change – include:

• December 2024: Ofcom will publish first edition illegal harms codes and guidance. Platforms will have three months to complete illegal harms risk assessment.
• January 2025: Ofcom will finalise children’s access assessment guidance and guidance for pornography providers on age assurance. Platforms will have three months to assess whether their service is likely to be accessed by children.
• February 2025: Ofcom will consult on best practice guidance on protecting women and girls online, earlier than previously planned.
• March 2025: Platforms must complete their illegal harms risk assessments, and implement appropriate safety measures.
• April 2025: Platforms must complete children’s access assessments. Ofcom to finalise children’s safety codes and guidance. Companies will have three months to complete children’s risk assessment.
• Spring 2025: Ofcom will consult on additional measures for second edition codes and guidance.
• July 2025: Platforms must complete children’s risk assessments, and make sure they implement appropriate safety measures.

Enforcement Action

Ofcom has the power to take enforcement action against platforms that fail to comply with their new duties, including imposing significant fines where appropriate.

In the most serious cases, Ofcom will be able to seek a court order to block access to a service in the UK, or limit its access to payment providers or advertisers.

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The organisations says it is “prepared to take strong action if tech firms fail to put in place the measures that will be most impactful in protecting users, especially children, from serious harms such as those relating to child sexual abuse, pornography and fraud.”

Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, said: “The time for talk is over. From December, tech firms will be legally required to start taking action, meaning 2025 will be a pivotal year in creating a safer life online.

“We’ve already engaged constructively with some platforms and seen positive changes ahead of time, but our expectations are going to be high, and we’ll be coming down hard on those who fall short.”