The UK's Online Safety Act

The UK's Online Safety Act received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023, with the majority of provisions expected to come into force two months from then.  The OSA aims to protect online users from illegal and, particularly in the case of children, certain types of harmful user-generated content.  It will impact online user-to-user and search service providers, however, much of the detail around compliance will be provided by Ofcom in the form of codes of practice and guidance.  We look at where the OSA has ended up after its lengthy and controversial progress through Parliament, and at what we know so far, covering:

• The OSA in two pages – a summary table
• Who's caught?
• Safety duties and in-scope content
• The OSA and children
• Ofcom's powers and duties
• Ofcom's approach to regulating the OSA
• The UK's Online Safety Act compared with the EU's Digital Services Act
• Risk assessments
• Freedom of speech and privacy, journalistic content, news publisher content and content of democratic importance.