2 weeks ago
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Social media and other internet platforms will be legally required to block children’s access to harmful content from July or face large fines, Ofcom has announced.
The UK regulator has published the final version of its ”children’s codes” under the Online Safety Act, setting out what sites must do to follow the law and protect children online.
Under the codes, any site that hosts pornography, or content encouraging self-harm, suicide or eating disorders must have robust age verification tools in place in order to protect children from accessing that content.
In addition, platforms will be required to configure their algorithms to filter out harmful content from children’s feeds and recommendations, ensuring they are not sent down a rabbit hole of harmful content.
However, the codes are “risk adverse” and leave too much control in the hands of tech platforms, the father of Molly Russell has warned.
“I am dismayed by the lack of ambition in today’s codes. Instead of moving fast to fix things, the painful reality is that Ofcom’s measures will fail to prevent more young deaths like my daughter Molly’s,” said Ian Russell.
The codes require sites to have easier reporting and complaints systems in place to help users more quickly flag harmful content, and sites themselves will be expected to respond remove harmful content quickly.
The Ofcom chief executive, Melanie Dawes, said: “These changes are a reset for children online. They will mean safer social media feeds with less harmful and dangerous content, protections from being contacted by strangers and effective age checks on adult content.
“Ofcom has been tasked with bringing about a safer generation of children online, and if companies fail to act they will face enforcement.”
Russell, chair of the Molly Rose Foundation, set up in his daughter’s name after she ended her life aged 14, in 2017, after viewing harmful content on social media, said Ofcom’s codes would not protect young people.
“Ofcom’s risk adverse approach is a bitter pill for bereaved parents to swallow. Their overly cautious codes put the bottom line of reckless tech companies ahead of tackling preventable harm.
“We lose at least one young life to tech-related suicide every single week in the UK which is why today’s sticking plaster approach cannot be allowed to stand.
“A speedy remedy is within reach if the prime minister personally intervenes to fix this broken system. Less than one in 10 parents think Ofcom is doing enough and Sir Keir Starmer must commit without delay to strengthen online safety legislation.”
The technology secretary, Peter Kyle, said Ofcom’s children’s codes were a “watershed moment” after the rise of “lawless, poisonous environments” online.
“Growing up in the digital age should mean children can reap the immense benefits of the online world safely but in recent years too many young people have been exposed to lawless, poisonous environments online which we know can lead to real and sometimes fatal consequences. This cannot continue,” he added.
