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UK Internet Watchdog Gives Social Media Companies Three Months to Improve Safety or Face Huge Fines
The UK’s communication services regulator, Ofcom, has issued a stern warning to social media companies and online service providers, demanding that they take significant steps to improve user safety within the next three months. Failure to comply with these new regulations could result in massive fines.
In its latest move, Ofcom has released over 40 new safety measures that all applicable organizations must implement by mid-March 2025 at the latest. These stringent guidelines are a direct response to the passage of the Online Safety Act, which aims to protect children and adults from harmful online experiences.
As part of these regulations, social media platforms will be required to take immediate action to tackle fraud, moderation, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). To achieve this, companies must designate a senior person accountable for ensuring compliance with these duties, including the removal of illegal content. Additionally, moderating teams must undergo “appropriate” training and have sufficient resources to swiftly eliminate illicit content.
Furthermore, social media platforms will need to revise their algorithms to limit the spread of illegal content on their platforms. This includes measures such as hiding children’s profiles and locations online, disallowing random accounts from messaging children, and implementing advanced detection methods like hash-matching and URL detection to quickly identify and shut down CSAM.
The UK regulator consulted with key stakeholders including the tech industry, charities, parents, and even heard firsthand accounts from children about their disturbing experiences with online predators. This input has led Ofcom to strengthen certain areas of its guidelines since initial consultation.
“The result is a set of measures that will significantly improve safety for all users, especially children,” states Ofcom in its release.
The Online Safety Act targets organizations big and small, including both large corporations and micro-businesses, as well as individual online service providers. However, it remains unclear which specific entities fall under this umbrella, with the regulator only specifying that businesses must have a “significant number” of UK users or operate within the UK market.
These regulations apply to a broad range of online services, including social media platforms, online gaming and dating sites, search engines, and pornographic content providers.
Source: http://www.engadget.com
