What is the Online Safety Act? Law explained as it finally comes into force

Long-awaited powers will come into effect from Monday

The Online Safety Act comes into force from Monday (PA Wire)

Technology firms must do more to tackle illegal content on their platforms as Ofcom gains new powers. From Monday, the regulator will start enforcing the Online Safety Act’s illegal content codes, requiring social media companies to find and remove content such as child sexual abuse material.

The illegal content codes relate to material such as child sexual exploitation and abuse, terrorism, hate crimes, content encouraging or assisting suicide, and fraud. New duties on social media firms require them to detect and remove the content, using advanced tools such as automated hash-matching and robust moderation and reporting mechanisms.

New strict enforcement rules will also now give Ofcom the power to administer hefty fines for non-compliance, and even bans in the most serious cases.

Technology secretary Peter Kyle said the changes “represent a major step forward in creating a safer online world”. He added that “for too long” child abuse material, terrorist content and intimate image abuse have been “easy to find online”, but social media platforms now have a legal duty to prevent and remove it.

Peter Kyle, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology (PA Wire)

However, some have criticised the time it has taken for these powers to come into effect, and say the new powers do not go far enough. The bill first came into law in October 2023, around 18 months ago, as the new laws were consulted on and tech firms were given time to ensure they were complying.

Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly took her own life aged 14 in November 2017 after viewing harmful content on social media, said the introduction of the new powers “should have been a watershed moment” but that children and families have been “let down by Ofcom’s timidity and lack of ambition”.

The chairman of the Molly Rose Foundation added that Ofcom “appears to have lost sight of the fundamental purpose of regulation”, which is preventing harm.

Suzanne Cater, enforcement director at Ofcom, commented: “Platforms must now act quickly to come into compliance with their legal duties, and our codes are designed to help them do that.

“But, make no mistake, any provider who fails to introduce the necessary protections can expect to face the full force of our enforcement action.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the Online Safety Act:

What does the Online Safety Act do?

Passed in October 2023, the Online Safety Act is designed to make the internet ‘safer,’ especially for children. A central element of the bill is the new duties it places upon social media firms and the powers it gives Ofcom to enforce them.

The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) says the bill will make the UK “the safest place in the world to be a child online”. It will require platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful or age-inappropriate content online.

Ian Russell, whose daughter took her own life, said much more needs to be done to protect young people from online harms (PA Archive)

The bill also named Ofcom as the UK’s independent regulator of online safety. This will give the telecoms watchdog new powers to enforce the rules laid out in the bill.

A number of new criminal offences are laid out as part of the act, cyberflashing, intimate image abuse (revenge porn), and epilepsy trolling. The most relevant offences to what the country has seen in recent days are “threatening communications” and “sending false information intended to cause non-trivial harm”.

The act also now requires social media firms to take action against illegal content and activity. Both “racially or religiously aggravated public order offences” and “inciting violence” are included as types of illegal content.

How will the act be enforced?

Ofcom will be able to enforce the rules laid out in the Online Safety Act in a number of ways. Platforms will need to begin providing evidence to the watchdog of how they are meeting the set requirements. Ofcom will then evaluate and monitor these companies, before deciding to take action for non-compliance.

Companies can be fined up to £18 million or 10 per cent of their revenue worldwide (whichever amounts to more). Criminal action can even be taken against senior managers who fail to ensure information requests from Ofcom are fulfilled.

Specifically on child-related offences, the watchdog will be able to hold companies and managers criminally liable for non-compliance.

And in “extreme” cases, Ofcom will be able to require internet providers and advertisers to stop working with platforms, essentially banning them from operating in the country. This would be subject to agreement from the courts.