Online Safety Act Implementation: Protecting Children

Today, I am laying in Parliament Ofcom’s draft codes of practice for child safety duties under the Online Safety Act, setting out the statutory duties providers face and the measures they must take to fulfil them.

We are in the midst of an epidemic in online harm. Young people are exposed to a slew of horrific content on the sites that many of them use every day. The consequences can be devastating, from pornography that cruelly warps their expectations of healthy relationships to content which encourages, promotes or provides instructions for self-harm, suicide or eating disorders. Parents trying to protect their children may not understand what is going on behind their bedroom doors or find themselves powerless to stop it.

Today, that changes. Building on the illegal codes which came into force last month, the draft codes of practice are some of the most far-reaching protections in the world. For the first time, platforms will have to prioritise children’s safety by law, protecting children in the UK from seeing content including pornography, violent content, or that which promotes self-harm, suicide or eating disorders.

We know that harm is happening to children right now. If we are to safeguard healthier, happier childhoods for our young people, we cannot afford to hesitate in protecting them. From today, services will have three months to assess the risk of harm their services pose to children. Once the codes have gone through the parliamentary process, Ofcom must issue them. The relevant duties will come into force 21 calendar days later, and Ofcom will be able to enforce against non-compliance. By summer, the child online safety regime will be fully in force.

I know that Ofcom is prepared to make full use of its powers under the Act. After the illegal codes of practice came into force last month, Ofcom swiftly opened several enforcement programmes to assess industry compliance. In the months to come, I expect them to build on the strong precedent they have set. When the lives of our children are at stake, we must be relentless in our efforts to protect them.

Once in force, the codes will change young people’s lives for the better, protecting happy, healthy childhoods from the kind of horrific content that too often cuts them short. This is a landmark moment, but it is not the end point of our efforts to protect children online. The rapid change that has characterised the last decade of the digital age shows no signs of slowing down, bringing with it extraordinary opportunities and grave new risks. In this context, we will act swifty if our laws continue to fall short. These codes are the foundation for child safety, not the limit, and Ofcom has already announced plans to launch a consultation in spring 2025 on additional measures.

For now, though, the message to industry is clear. You must act now to protect children using your services. If you fail to do so, Ofcom will not hesitate to enforce the law.

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