The UK’s communications regulator has declared that tech companies must prioritize the protection of children from abuse, grooming, and pro-suicide content, as it takes its first steps as the enforcer of online safety.
Ofcom, which was granted new authority when the Online Safety Act was enacted last month, stated that children are a major concern. It stated that its role is to compel companies such as Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta to address the sources of online harm by making their services more secure.
It clarified that it will not be making decisions about individual videos, posts, messages, or accounts, or answer to individual complaints.
Chief Executive Melanie Dawes noted that Ofcom is wasting no time in setting out how it expects tech firms to protect people from illegal harm online.
“Children have told us about the dangers they face, and we’re determined to create a safer life online for young people in particular,” she said.
The draft code released on Thursday includes measures such as preventing users who are not in a child’s connection list from messaging them and making sure children’s location information is not visible. It also stated that firms should use a technology called “hash matching” to identify illegal images of child sexual abuse by checking them against a database.
It said it will be consulting on its measures, which also include actions to combat fraud and terrorism, before publishing a finalized version next year, which will need parliamentary approval.
If companies fail to comply with the new law, they could be fined up to 18 million pounds ($22.1 million) or 10 per cent of their annual global turnover.
($1 = 0.8156 pounds)