Ofcom has published a document setting out its priorities for the year ahead relating to online safety, together with an updated roadmap for its implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA).

It follows the recent publication of Ofcom’s Plan for Work which set out in broad terms the areas on which the regulator will focus this year across all aspects of its remit. As we discussed here, the section on online safety was by far the most detailed, reflecting the scale of Ofcom’s responsibilities under the OSA.

The latest publication from Ofcom reiterates the breadth of work being undertaken by Ofcom in relation to online safety over the coming months, including the publication of: statutory reports on the effectiveness of age assurance; advice on Technology Notices; a draft code of practice on fraudulent advertising; updates to its Codes addressing AI and automated content moderation tools; and the register of categorised services together with a consultation on the duties that will apply to them.

If that weren’t enough, Ofcom points out that its workload will increase substantially as it considers how to implement recently enacted legislation which includes measures addressing online safety, such as the Crime and Policing Act (discussed here), and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act (discussed here).

To address this, Ofcom is clear that it needs to decide how best to direct its resources. To that end – and stressing that all legal duties and relevant offences under the OSA will continue to apply to all regulated services – Ofcom has identified three priority areas:

1. Improving protections for children

Ofcom will continue its enforcement programmes on child sexual abuse material and age assurance. Later this month, it will report on progress made following its warning to major sites and apps to enforce minimum age requirements (discussed here). It will also issue an update on its analysis of major platforms providers’ algorithms in July.

2. Removing illegal content, especially concerning hate and terrorist material.

Platforms will be expected to demonstrate that they are finding and removing illegal hate and terrorist content, and Ofcom will publish an update on its compliance programme in relation to content moderation systems shortly.

3. Protecting women and girls

Ofcom will set a new technical standard of hash matching to prevent the upload of non-consensual intimate images and gather evidence for a report next year on how tech firms have followed its guidance on keeping women and girls safe online (discussed here).

To ensure that they stay on the right side of Ofcom as it pursues these priorities, businesses are reminded to carry out risk assessments to ensure they are “on top of the issues” and warned that Ofcom will use a combination of supervision and enforcement to ensure compliance with their duties.

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