Ofcom’s warning to online platforms: be ready for regulation

While the UK waits to see what the Government intends to do with the Online Safety Bill, Ofcom has been busily fulfilling its role as the regulator of UK established video-sharing platforms (VSPs, a regime we’ve previously written about, see here and here). After publishing a report last week on the lessons to be learned from the live-streaming of the Buffalo mass shooting incident, Ofcom has today published a report on its first year of regulating VSPs.

The 115 page report will take some time to fully digest, but headline points include:

• Ofcom has seen some VSPs make positive changes to protect users from harmful content online, but many platforms are not sufficiently prepared for regulation.
• VSPs are not prioritising risk assessments of their platforms, which Ofcom considers is fundamental to proactively identify and mitigate risks to users.
• Ofcom is concerned that smaller UK based adult sites do not have robust measures in place to prevent children accessing pornography.
• Over the next twelve months, Ofcom expects VSPs to set and enforce effective T&Cs for their users, and quickly remove harmful content when they become aware of it.
• Ofcom has exercised its enforcement powers and opened a formal investigation into Tapnet Ltd in relation to its response to Ofcom’s information request.

Although Ofcom only regulates 19 companies under the VSP regime, its regulatory remit will expand significantly under the Online Safety Bill, regulating all user to user services and search engines that have links with the UK (subject to some small exemptions).

In its press release today, Ofcom issued a warning to platforms in the scope of the online safety regime. Platforms must be ready to meet Ofcom’s deadlines and comply with their new duties, and the work to get ready to do this should start now.

There may be some uncertainty around when the Online Safety Bill will pass into law, but it is clear from Ofcom’s statement today that it will have little patience with platforms who wait for the new laws to make their sites safe for users.