New online safety law may disappoint public without ‘tangible’ change, say MPs

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Confidence in Britain’s new online safety regime may very well be undermined by an absence of “tangible” enchancment, MPs have warned.

Communications regulator Ofcom has been given the job of implementing the regime launched by final yr’s Online Safety Act, which requires suppliers of online providers to minimise the extent of unlawful and dangerous content material.

But in a report revealed on Wednesday, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee stated full implementation of the brand new guidelines had been delayed by a yr, whereas the best way Ofcom will deal with complaints dangers leaving the public “disappointed”.

The report stated: “As the regulatory regime will not be fully implemented until 2026, there is a risk that public confidence in the regime will be undermined if it does not quickly bring about tangible changes to people’s online experience.”

Under the brand new regime, Ofcom will probably be unable to behave on particular person complaints and might solely step in when there are “systemic concerns” a few supplier, nor does it have a mechanism for telling complainants whether or not their issues have contributed to any motion.

Committee chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier stated: “Expectations are understandably high for firm guardrails in the hitherto largely unregulated online world.

“We know that around two thirds of UK children and adults say they experienced at least one potential online harm in a month in 2022, according to Ofcom, which is to be commended for how swiftly it has moved to take on its new responsibilities.

“It must now continue to be proactively frank with the public over what the Online Safety Act does and does not empower it to do, lest confidence in the new regime be swiftly undermined.”

The committee stated Ofcom was nicely ready for its new position, and famous that it had already achieved some success in making certain a web site selling suicide was blocked for UK customers.

But full implementation of the brand new guidelines has slipped from 2025 to 2026, whereas the April 2025 deadline for bringing in elements of the laws regarding unlawful harms and defending youngsters is taken into account the “bare minimum” required.

MPs additionally known as for extra readability on how charges levied on trade would work, suggesting Ofcom wouldn’t recuperate its set-up prices till 2033, and requested for extra element on how it might take care of web suppliers who failed to have interaction with the regulator.

With an estimated 100,000 firms topic to regulation, lots of which may be small or primarily based abroad, MPs stated it may be troublesome to contact some suppliers.

If suppliers refuse to have interaction with Ofcom over systemic issues, the regulator may have the facility to levy fines of as much as 10% of an organization’s international income and perform “business disruption measures”.

Dame Meg added: “No other country has introduced online safety regulation. Ofcom now needs to capitalise on its early progress.

“It must also accelerate its co-ordination with other regulators both at home and overseas, in the recognition that it is at the forefront of a truly global effort to strike the right balance between freedom and safety online.”