Source URL: https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/14/online_safety_act/
Source: The Register
Title: It’s not just Big Tech: The UK’s Online Safety Act applies across the board
Feedly Summary: That niche forum running for 20 years – get ready, there’s work to do
Analysis A little more than two months out from its first legal deadline, the UK’s Online Safety Act is causing concern among smaller online forums caught within its reach. The legislation, which came into law in the autumn of 2023, applies to search services and services that allow users to post content online or to interact with each other.…
AI Summary and Description: Yes
**Summary:** The UK’s Online Safety Act, enacted in autumn 2023, mandates compliance from online platforms and services that allow user interaction, regardless of their location, particularly if they have significant UK user bases. This legislation will impose new legal duties aimed at protecting users, especially children, from various online harms, creating a considerable compliance burden for smaller forums and online services.
**Detailed Description:**
The UK’s Online Safety Act has generated concerns, primarily among smaller online forums that now find themselves subject to its extensive legal requirements. The Act, effective from March 2025, has specific implications and compliance obligations depending on the platform’s user metrics, particularly impacting those with significant UK-based users.
**Key Points:**
– **Scope of the Act:**
– Applies to various platforms including social media, messaging services, video-sharing platforms, and online forums.
– Services not based in the UK are also liable if they have a considerable UK user base.
– **Compliance Obligations:**
– Platforms falling under the Act must name an accountable individual for online safety compliance.
– A risk assessment process is required to evaluate the potential for illegal content across 17 categories.
– The risk assessment must determine if content poses a negligible, low, medium, or high risk of harm.
– **Service Categories:**
– Different measures apply based on user counts:
– **Category 1 services:** Services using recommender systems and exceeding 34 million UK users or platforms that allow user-generated content sharing with over 7 million UK users.
– About 100,000 online services may need to comply with the Act.
– **Potential Penalties:**
– Failure to comply could result in hefty fines, up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue.
– **Support for Compliance:**
– Ofcom is providing resources, including a regulation checker and a forthcoming “Digital Support Service,” to assist organizations in meeting their obligations.
– **Concerns from Small Forums:**
– Smaller platforms express worry about the breadth of the Act and the resources required to comply, especially when their operations may not present significant risk.
– Affected forums are preparing to conduct risk assessments, but some feel that their low-risk status should exempt them from the rigorous measures designed for larger platforms.
The Online Safety Act aims to mitigate serious online threats such as child exploitation, hate speech, and terrorist communications, posing both a challenge and an impetus for stronger regulatory compliance within the digital services landscape. The Act’s impact emphasizes the crucial intersection of online user protection and the operational viability of smaller online communities, necessitating proactive engagement from all entities involved.