Consultation: Draft transparency reporting guidance

We are consulting on draft statutory transparency reporting guidance, which covers the process that we will adopt for deciding what providers must include in their transparency reports, and how information from these reports will be used to inform Ofcom’s own transparency report.  

The Online Safety Act makes platforms – including social media, search, and pornography services – legally responsible for keeping people, especially children, safe online. Certain duties in the Act apply to all regulated services, whilst other - additional - duties apply only to certain services. The duty to publish transparency reports only applies to providers of certain regulated services, specifically those that appear on a public register of “categorised services” prepared by Ofcom.

Categorised services will have to publish transparency reports according to requirements that are set out by Ofcom in transparency notices. Our draft guidance lays out our proposed approach to determining what information relevant services are required to publish in their reports, as well as information about how we will engage with services throughout the reporting process.

Ofcom is also required to produce its own transparency report that draws conclusions based on the substance of the reports produced by providers. Our draft guidance presents our proposed approach to using information from service providers’ transparency reports in our own report.

Responding to this consultation

Please submit responses by using this response form by 5pm on 4 October 2024.