Ofcom expands Online Safety Act enforcement for 2026-27
Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has outlined its online safety priorities for 2026-27, focusing on implementing the Online Safety Act (OSA) and preparing for new legislation. The priorities include protecting children through age assurance and content moderation, combating illegal hate and terror content, and enhancing women's and girls' safety online, with a focus on intimate image abuse and AI-generated sexual deepfakes. Ofcom will use supervision and enforcement, including potential fines up to 10% of global revenue, to drive compliance.
Key Takeaways
- Ofcom says the Online Safety Act covers more than 130 priority offences and over 100,000 services.
- The regulator will publish statutory reports this year on age assurance, content harmful to children, and app stores, plus updated Codes in autumn.
- Ofcom plans a summer register of categorised services and a consultation on fraudulent advertising duties.
- The Crime and Policing Act adds a 48-hour takedown duty for non-consensual intimate imagery and a reporting requirement to a central registry.
- Ofcom can fine companies up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, or £18m, for breaches of the OSA.
Why It Matters
Ofcom is signaling that compliance pressure under the Online Safety Act will stay high, with enforcement, supervision and new technical standards all moving at once. For streaming and video platforms, that means age assurance, content moderation and image-abuse controls remain active regulatory workstreams, not one-time fixes. The broader ecosystem angle is clear: Ofcom is aligning staff across research, lawyers, technologists and enforcement to focus on children, illegal hate and terror, and women’s safety online, including AI-generated sexual deepfakes. Watch for the summer register of categorised services and the public progress update later this month.
Read full article at ofcom.org.uk