Consultation: Protecting people from illegal harms online

Online safety Illegal and harmful content Consultations and statements

Published: 9 November 2023

Consultation closes: 23 February 2024

Status: Closed (pending statement)

This is the first of four major consultations that Ofcom, as regulator of the new Online Safety Act, will publish as part of our work to establish the new regulations over the next 18 months.

It focuses on our proposals for how internet services that enable the sharing of user-generated content ('user-to-user services') and search services should approach their new duties relating to illegal content.

We cover:

the causes and impacts of illegal harms;
how services should assess and mitigate the risks of illegal harms;
how services can identify illegal content; and
our approach to enforcement.

Our proposals reflect research we have carried out over the last three years, as well as evidence gathered through extensive engagement with industry and other experts.

How to read this consultation

Start with a summary of our proposals (PDF, 463.4 KB) and a summary of each chapter (PDF, 469.7 KB). These tell you everything you need to know about the proposals that affect you.
If you want to get into more detail, the six volumes explain our proposals in full.
In the annexes, we've published first drafts of our codes of practice, risk assessment guidance and other guidance.

Our consultation closed on 23 February 2024. Gill Whitehead, Ofcom's Group Director for Online Safety, wrote the following note to respondents:

I wanted to share a short note to acknowledge receipt of your response to our consultation, but also to thank you sincerely for devoting time and consideration to your replies.
So much of Ofcom’s work is only made possible through the constructive and often very frank feedback from our stakeholders. In this instance, I know you faced a big task responding to such a critically important and complex consultation.
I’m particularly mindful of the contribution from the stakeholders with fewer resources at hand, such as smaller services and civil society groups. I do not for one moment take for granted how much time and effort this must have required. I can assure you that your submission, and all the contributions we’ve received, will be closely reviewed by our policy team as we seek to make our proposals even stronger.
Finally, a reminder of the next steps. We will carefully consider all the responses and evidence received, and then aim to publish our regulatory statement and conclusions around the end of this year. Services will then need to complete an illegal harms risk assessment, and we will submit our codes to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for laying before Parliament. Ofcom will issue these unless Parliament resolves not to approve them. We will, of course, update you as our work progresses.
Once again, thank you for helping us with this important work, and I look forward to working more with you in the years to come.
Gill Whitehead, Group Director for Online Safety