Ofcom has launched a user-friendly ‘digital safety toolkit’ to help organisations comply with their new legal duties under the Online Safety Act 2023 (“OSA”).

Whilst principally aimed at small and medium-sized user-to-user and search services, Ofcom states that the toolkit can be used by any organisation that falls within the scope of the OSA.

The toolkit is divided into a series of steps that address various duties under the OSA, from completing risk assessments to record-keeping. First, the toolkit introduces users to the 17 kinds of so-called ‘priority illegal content’ that organisations must consider as part of their risk assessments, in addition to helping to identify important risk factors that might exist on their service. Step two offers guidance on how to assess the risk of harm from each kind of priority illegal content and other illegal content. Step three is designed to assist organisations “identify and relevant safety measures to address risk from Ofcom’s Illegal Content Codes of Practice” (which we published last month, and on which we commented here). Finally, the toolkit helps organisations understand how to keep risk assessments up to date.

By answering a series of questions in relation to the various steps, the toolkit promises to provide “tailored recommendations for how to comply with the new online safety rules”, as well as assistance on how to complete an illegal harms risk assessment, the deadline for which is 16 March 2025.

The toolkit is available here.