Investigation into an online suicide discussion forum and its compliance with duties to protect its users from illegal content

Ofcom has today opened an investigation into the provider of an online suicide discussion forum. The investigation will consider the provider’s compliance with its duties under the Online Safety Act 2023 (‘the Act’).

All user-to-user and search services in scope of the Act were required to undertake an illegal content risk assessment by 16 March 2025. They were required to assess the risks of users encountering illegal content on their platforms, including priority illegal content (as defined in the Act) which amounts to the offence of intentionally encouraging or assisting the suicide (or attempted suicide) of another person.

In addition, Part 3 of the Act imposes duties on providers of regulated user-to-user services to take or use:

1. proportionate measures to effectively mitigate and manage:
   • the risk of the service being used for the commission or facilitation of a priority offence; and
   • the risks of harm to individuals.
2. proportionate systems and processes to:
   • prevent individuals from encountering priority illegal content; and
   • minimise the length of time for which any priority illegal content is present and to swiftly take down illegal content once they become aware of it; and
3. provisions in the terms of service specifying how individuals are to be protected from illegal content, apply those terms consistently and ensure the terms of service are clear and easily accessible.

At the same time, duties to use systems and processes to ensure users can easily report illegal content and make relevant complaints also started to apply to providers of Part 3 services. These ‘Illegal Content Duties’ came into effect on 17 March 2025.

Regulated user-to-user service providers can comply with the Illegal Content Duties by implementing measures recommended in Ofcom’s illegal content Codes of Practice for user-to-user services issued on 24 February 2025 (the ‘Codes of Practice’), or through alternative measures.

Investigation

The investigation follows an information notice that was sent to the service provider under the Risk Assessment Enforcement Programme and further correspondence with the service provider in respect of its duties under the Act. We have been clear that failure to adequately respond to our request for services to submit a record of their illegal content risk assessment may result in enforcement action and that, as soon as the duties took effect for providers, we would not hesitate to take action where we suspect there may be serious breaches which appears to pose a risk of very significant harm to UK users, and to children in particular.

Ofcom’s investigation will examine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that the provider of the online suicide discussion forum has failed, or is failing, to comply with its duties to protect its users from illegal content, as well as the duty to respond accurately to an information notice sent under the Act.

We will provide an update on this investigation in due course. Ofcom’s Online Safety Enforcement Guidance sets out how Ofcom will normally approach enforcement under the Act. This includes our approach to information gathering and analysis and the procedural steps we must take to fairly determine the outcome of the investigation.

Where we identify compliance failures, we can impose fines of up to £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue (whichever is greater). In the most serious cases of non-compliance, and where appropriate given the risks of harm to individuals in the UK, we can seek a court order to require third parties to take action to disrupt the business of the provider. This may require third parties (such as providers of payment or advertising services, or Internet Service Providers) to withdraw services from, or block access to, a regulated service in the UK.