The Global Online Safety Regulators Network has today published its first Annual Report, and its Strategic Plan for 2025-2027.
The Network was established two years ago to bring together regulators working on online safety from jurisdictions around the world and now has 25 members and observers from six continents. It enables regulators to share experience, expertise and evidence, paving the way for coherent international approaches to online safety regulation.
The Network has identified the following three thematic priorities that will be its focus over the next three years:
- Building regulatory coherence across jurisdictions. Regulatory coherence is important to allow regulators grappling with novel frameworks to support one another in implementing effective online safety regulation, to enable companies to benefit from compliance economies of scale and legal certainty, and above all, to ensure that the online safety of internet users in our respective countries does not stop ‘at the border’.
- Contributing to the evidence base of online safety and surfacing best practices. The evidence base for online safety regulation is nascent, and focusing on this priority will enable regulators, governments and policymakers to share expertise and to develop novel regulatory tools and practices. Our work to surface best practices will also support new and emerging regulators to learn from our collective experiences as they commence their own online safety regulatory journey.
- Facilitating the sharing of information and coordination to promote compliance. From the beginning of the Network, regulators have found the ability to share informally as one of the most valuable parts of our work. Building more space for this kind of information sharing will deepen our understanding of users’ experiences on platforms and strengthen our capacity to hold platforms accountable for ensuring user safety – especially where there are risks of cross-border harm or instances of systemic non-compliance.
In addition, the Network will continue to develop global partnerships, contribute to global debates on online safety issues, and share our learnings and outputs with others.
Ofcom will continue as Chair of the Network for a second year in 2025.