The Online Safety Act (the Act) puts a range of new duties on social media companies and search services, making them more responsible for users’ safety on their platforms.
This Statement of Strategic Priorities (SSP) sets out the government’s focus areas for online safety. The regulator, Ofcom, must have regard to these priorities as we continue to implement the Act. This statement has been developed with the input of those who have experienced the offline impacts of failures in online safety.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle has finalised the government’s online safety policies. Here is the new framework:
- Safety by design: Embed safety by design to deliver safe online experiences for all users but especially children, tackle violence against women and girls, and work towards ensuring that there are no safe havens for illegal content and activity, including fraud, child sexual exploitation and abuse, and illegal disinformation
- Transparency and accountability: Ensure industry transparency and accountability for delivering on online safety outcomes, driving increased trust in services and expanding the evidence-base to provide safer experiences for users
- Agile regulation: Deliver an agile approach to regulation, ensuring the framework is robust in monitoring and tackling emerging harms – such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated content – and increases friction for technologies which enable online harm
- Inclusivity and resilience: Create an inclusive, informed and vibrant digital society resilient to potential harms, including disinformation
- Technology and innovation: Foster the innovation of online safety technologies to improve the safety of users and drive growth
These prioritise will be laid before parliament and inform Ofcom’s approach to online safety regulation.
