The UK is “world-leading” in online safety regulations and is well ahead of the European Union, according to Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes.
Speaking on a panel discussing a safer online experience for UK users at the final day of London Tech Week, Dawes argued that with the implementation of the Online Safety Act, Britain has become the most robust and effective regulatory hub for tackling digital harms.
“I don’t say this lightly, but I do think the UK is leading in this area,” Dawes said. “The Online Safety Act and the way that we’ve been supported in the implementation of it is of a standard that is different from what you will see elsewhere.”
Pointing to the European Union’s Digital Services Act, the authority’s equivalent legislation to Britain’s Online Safety Act, Dawes pointed out that because the UK’s law is being carried out by an “independent” agency that is “not political” and is exclusively “evidence-based”, it creates a more effective and efficient framework.
“All the companies we deal with, they get that,” Dawes added. “They understand that we are making a real effort to get under the bonnet with them and know how their business works.”
The Online Safety Act is a landmark piece of legislation determining the responsibility of tech companies in ensuring the content they host is not harmful to consumers, particularly children.
The law, which allows Ofcom to fine companies for violations, makes clear that the harms stemming from the use of certain technologies are what is illegal, rather than the technology itself.
“For example, age verification. We have not said ‘here is the solution that you have to implement’, we have said, ‘here are four, five or six ways that you can do this […] you decide and come and talk to us about how you are doing it,” said Dawes.
Earlier at London Tech Week, Ofcom announced the launch of nine new investigations under the Online Safety Act, signalling the start of measurable enforcement of the recently enacted legislation.
Among the sites to be investigated is anonymous imageboard site 4chan.
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