Ofcom’s Jessica Smith, who led the development of the guidance, said the regulator was also prepared to use its powers under the Online Safety Act to highlight platforms not doing enough to protect women and girls on their sites through new online safety transparency reports.
The online safety regulator said that as well as enforcing new legally binding rules around protecting users from harm under the Online Safety Act, it will also “shine a light” on those failing to be proactive in making their sites safer and easier to use.
The guidance joins already published legally binding codes of practice on illegal content and protecting children online that have already been put in place by Ofcom and will begin to take effect next month under the Online Safety Act, and which carry large financial penalties if found to have been breached.
Under the Online Safety Act, platforms will be legally required to follow a new set of duties around protecting users from harm online, with fines of up to 10% of global turnover for those who fail to do so – which could run into billions of pounds for the largest services.
The warning comes as Ofcom has published new guidance on measures tech firms should consider using to help better protect women and girls on their sites, who they say are disproportionately impacted by online harms.
