Ofcom Prepares to Enforce UK Online Safety Act
Starting March 17, the U.K. Office of Communications (Ofcom) said it will monitor providers of online file-sharing and file-storage services that pose particular risks to users from child sexual abuse material (CSAM) for potential enforcement activities under the Online Safety Act (OSA).
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Simultaneously, the regulator announced, online platforms must start taking steps to remove illegal content quickly and reduce the risk of it appearing on their sites. Platforms must now conduct risk assessments to understand how likely it is that users will encounter illegal content on the sites.
In the "coming weeks and months," Ofcom will assess platforms' compliance with the new obligations and begin targeted enforcement in cases of suspected non-compliance, it said. Given the acute harm caused by the spread of CSAM, "assessing providers’ compliance with their safety duties in this area has been identified as one of our early priorities for enforcement." Compliance includes age verification (assurance). Companies have until April 16 to complete children's access risk assessments.
The OSA requires age assurance for several kinds of online services when they have links to the U.K., the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) noted in a document on age verification in its kids code. These are user-to-user services, search services and services which publish or display regulated pornography.
The OSA acknowledges the links between its requirements and data protection legislation, the ICO said. When implementing age assurance, services under the OSA must pay particular attention to protecting users from a breach of privacy legislation, including the U.K. Data Protection Regulation, it said. Services within the scope of the OSA must consider applying age assurance and age estimation where required by the act, it said.
"Ofcom has made it clear that although it will take a pragmatic approach with enforcement, everyone is expected to comply with their legal duties under the OSA and everyone will be reviewed one way or another," Katten Muchin Rosenman attorneys blogged.
Service providers must comply with the OSA as soon as possible because "Ofcom will be turning up the heat on enforcement," Katten attorneys said: Failure to comply could spark fines of up to $23.3 million (£18 million) or 10% of global revenue, whichever is higher.