Tracker Detail
Online Safety Act 2023
Name | Type | Government | Date Initiated | Status | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Online Safety Act 2023 | Legislation | United Kingdom | Oct 11, 2017 | Enacted | Dec 16, 2024 |
Summary
The UK Online Safety Act of 2023 is a sweeping law aimed at making the internet safer for children in particular, while also clamping down on ‘terrorism content,’ illegal or legal but ‘harmful’ content, and fraudulent advertising, among other issues. It also will require age verification for pornography sites. Other proposed bills in the US, such as the federal Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and state-level age verification laws, have largely been modeled off of the UK version.
The Act, first introduced in 2017, was passed in September 2023 and received royal assent on Oct. 26, 2023.
Updates
November 9, 2023. Ofcom opened a consultation on “Protecting people from illegal harms online.” This is the first of four major consultations that Ofcom, as regulator of the new Online Safety Act, will publish as part of our work to establish the new regulations over the next 18 months.
December 5, 2023. Ofcom opened a consultation on "Guidance for service providers publishing pornographic content." It also published draft "Guidance on age assurance and other Part 5 duties for service providers publishing pornographic content on online services."
May 8, 2024. Ofcom opened a consultation on "Protecting children from harms online." It included practical measures to set out how it expects online services to meet their legal responsibilities to protect children online.
October 17, 2024. Ofcom released a progress report on implementing the Act. It provides that new rules will start to come into force in December 2024.
December 16, 2024. The Act came into force with online providers now being legally required to protect their users from illegal harm. Providers now have a duty to assess the risk of illegal harms on their service by March 16, 2025 and by March 17, 2025, providers will need to take the safety measures set out in the Codes or use other effective measures to protect users from illegal content and activity.
As part of the new requirements, Ofcom released Illegal Harms Codes and guidance, including guidance on illegal content risk assessments, service design and user choice, and transparency and trust.
Additional Resources
Important dates for Online Safety compliance - Ofcom
New rules for online services: what you need to know - Ofcom
