For the first time in the UK, technology companies operating in the UK will be forced to publish detailed information about the safety of their platforms for public scrutiny. 

The UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has unveiled its plans for transparency reporting and information collection from widely used social media and search services, and is now consulting on draft guidance.

Under new rules first introduced with the Online Safety Act,tech companies will be required to share data on the safety of their services for users at least once a year. From 2025, Ofcom will start issuing regular ‘transparency notices’ to online service providers to determine exactly what information they need to publish.   

The data that tech companies could be forced to disclose will differ from platform to platform, taking account of the type of service, its number of users, the proportion who are children, along with certain other factors.

For some of the world’s biggest social media companies and online search services, this will include the prevalence of illegal content on their service and how many users have come across such content. The effectiveness of child protection features used by platforms will also be examined, a key concern for the regulator in recent months.

With this guidance, Ofcom aims to improve safety outcomes for users by allowing direct comparison between service providers. To this end, Ofcom will publish its own summary reports outlining the best and worst practices found across the industry.

As well as issuing transparency notices, the Online Safety Act gives Ofcom new powers to gather information from technology companies about user safety. These include the ability to audit a company’s safety features, to remotely inspect algorithms in real time and to access some users’ personal data.

Gill Whitehead, group director for online safety at Ofcom, said: “Our comprehensive transparency powers under the Act will be transformational in shining a light on the best and worst safety practices across the industry – encouraging safety by design – and empowering users.”

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Failure to comply with either a transparency or information notice from Ofcom could result in tech companies facing fines of up to £18 million or 10% of a company’s worldwide revenue – whichever is higher. Earlier this month, TikTok was fined £1.875 million for failing to accurately respond to a formal request for information about its parental controls safety feature.

Responses for the consultation on the proposed guidance are due by 4th October 2024, with Ofcom aiming to publish the final guidance by early 2025.