As the new online safety regulator, Ofcom is seeking to understand how to measure and assess the impact of our policies on regulated services, users, and other industry stakeholders. A key aspect of this objective involves assessing the impact of our regulation on users’ online experiences. Recognising the potential value of wellbeing metrics in this context, we commissioned expert advice from State of Life (SoL) to assess the feasibility of using these metrics to evaluate outcomes in online safety.
State of Life highlighted the benefits of using wellbeing metrics, alongside other metrics. They advised that using wellbeing would likely involve Ofcom collecting new data, internally or through collaboration with third parties, and that Ofcom should prioritise using existing metrics on life satisfaction and how children feel about their lives online. While causal evaluation may be difficult, they highlighted some techniques that may be feasible in certain situations, and further advised monitoring wellbeing trends, before, during, and after the Online Safety Act's phased rollout.
The Economics Discussion Paper (EDP), published alongside SoL’s report, contextualises the report within our broader evaluation work, summarises its key findings, and then discusses Ofcom’s next steps. We hope this summary and the full report will foster engagement and discussion on how to measure the impact of regulatory interventions in online safety, particularly about the role which may be played by subjective wellbeing.
