On 26 October 2023, the UK’s Online Safety Bill received Royal Assent, becoming the Online Safety Act (“OSA”).  The OSA imposes various obligations on tech companies to prevent the uploading of, and rapidly remove, illegal user content—such as terrorist content, revenge pornography, and child sexual exploitation material—from their services, and also to take steps to reduce the risk that users will encounter such material (please see our previous blog post on the Online Safety Bill).

Scope

The OSA applies to both user-to-user services (“U2U”) and search services.  A U2U is a service through which users can share content online, such as social media and online messaging services.  A search service is an internet service that is, or includes, a search engine, such as Google.

Penalties

If in-scope firms do not comply with the provisions of the OSA, Ofcom has the power to issue a fine of up to £18 million or 10% of global annual revenue, whichever is greater.

Next Steps

The majority of the OSA’s provisions will come into force in two months’ time.  However, certain provisions of the act came into force yesterday, 26 October 2023.  These provisions establish Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, as the online safety regulator, responsible for enforcing the OSA.

Ofcom will publish its first consultation on illegal harms on 9 November 2023.  The consultation will contain proposals for how services can comply with the OSA’s illegal content safety duties and draft codes of practice.  Thereafter, Ofcom has announced that it will take a phased approach to publishing guidance and codes of practice, prioritising the most serious categories of harm in the OSA, including: child safety, pornography, and the protection of women and girls.

We will post an update with further details on the Online Safety Act in due course.

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Photo of Shona O'Donovan Shona O'Donovan

Shóna O’Donovan is an associate in the technology regulatory group in the London office. She advises clients, particularly in the technology industry, on a range of data protection, e-privacy, intermediary liability and online content issues under EU, UK, and Irish law.

Shóna provides…

Shóna O’Donovan is an associate in the technology regulatory group in the London office. She advises clients, particularly in the technology industry, on a range of data protection, e-privacy, intermediary liability and online content issues under EU, UK, and Irish law.

Shóna provides strategic advice to companies on complying with data protection, e-privacy and online content laws, as well as defending organizations in cross-border, contentious investigations and regulatory enforcement before EU and UK regulators. In this context, she has represented clients in responding to regulatory requests relating to their compliance with the GDPR, the ePrivacy Directive, the Digital Services Act, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the Online Safety Act 2023. She also regularly advises clients on how these laws intersect with one another.

In her current role, Shóna gained experience on secondment to the data protection team of a global technology company. In a previous role, she spent seven months on secondment to the European data protection team of a global social media company.

Shóna co-leads Covington’s pro bono work with the Schools Consent Project, and regularly delivers workshops on sexual consent in schools across London. She also regularly provides pro bono advice to non-profits on complying with data protection laws.

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Photo of Marty Hansen Marty Hansen

Martin Hansen has over two decades of experience representing some of the world’s leading innovative companies in the internet, IT, e-commerce, and life sciences sectors on a broad range of regulatory, intellectual property, and competition issues, including related to artificial intelligence. Martin has…

Martin Hansen has over two decades of experience representing some of the world’s leading innovative companies in the internet, IT, e-commerce, and life sciences sectors on a broad range of regulatory, intellectual property, and competition issues, including related to artificial intelligence. Martin has extensive experience in advising clients on matters arising under EU and U.S. law, UK law, the World Trade Organization agreements, and other trade agreements.

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Photo of Will Capstick Will Capstick

Will Capstick is an associate in the Corporate Practice Group in the London office. He advises clients on a broad range of corporate matters.

Will also has experience advising clients operating in the digital media space in relation to the creation, acquisition, and…

Will Capstick is an associate in the Corporate Practice Group in the London office. He advises clients on a broad range of corporate matters.

Will also has experience advising clients operating in the digital media space in relation to the creation, acquisition, and distribution of content.

Will is committed to pro bono and provides ongoing support to a charity in challenging the death penalty in the US as well as immigration law advice to families seeking leave to remain in the UK.

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