UK Publishes Guidance on Making Internet Safer for Girls and Women
U.K. regulator Ofcom on Tuesday announced that it had published draft guidelines on measures that technology firms can implement to improve women’s and girls’ safety online, requiring websites and apps to take some responsibility for preventing user harm.
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The guidelines promote “a safety-by-design approach,” the regulator said, with many practical examples of good industry practice. These practices include removing geolocation data by default, “because this information leaking can lead to serious harms, stalking or threats to life,” and strengthening account security through things such as adding authentication steps that make it harder for accounts to be monitored without owner consent, Ofcom said.
Ofcom seeks comments on the draft guidance by May 23, the regulator said. A statement and final guidance will be posted later this year. Ofcom previously issued guidance on how to effectively carry out age checks (see 2501160001).
“No woman should have to think twice before expressing herself online, worry about an abuser tracking her location, or face the trauma of a deepfake intimate image of herself being shared without her consent,” said Ofcom Chief Executive Melanie Dawes. “Our practical guidance is a call to action for online services -- setting a new and ambitious standard for women and girls’ online safety. There’s not only a moral imperative for tech firms to protect the interests of female users, but it also makes sound commercial sense -- fostering greater trust and engagement with a significant proportion of their customer base.”