Ofcom has launched its first investigation of illegal harms under the Online Safety Act. It is investigating an online suicide discussion forum. It will assess if the provider has complied with its duties under the Act to:
- adequately respond to a statutory information request;
- complete and keep a record of a suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment; and
- comply with the safety duties about illegal content, the duties relating to content reporting and duties about complaints procedures, which apply in relation to regulated user-to-user services.
All user-to-user and search services that come under 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.
The investigation follows an information notice that Ofcom sent to the service provider under its Risk Assessment Enforcement Programme and further correspondence with the service provider about its duties under the Act. Ofcom says that it has made clear that failure to adequately respond to its request for providers 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, it would not hesitate to take action where it suspects there may be serious breaches which appears to pose a risk of very significant harm to UK users, and to children in particular.
It will provide an update on this investigation in due course. Its Online Safety Enforcement Guidance sets out how Ofcom will normally approach enforcement under the Act. This includes its approach to information gathering and analysis and the procedural steps it must take to fairly determine the outcome of the investigation.
Ofcom has emphasised that it 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, it 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.
Ofcom has not named the forum, but the BBC said on its Today programme on Radio 4 on 9 April that it had also been investigating the forum and believed that it was linked to up to 50 deaths in the UK. It also raised the delay between the Act receiving Royal Assent in late 2023 and finally being enforced now, which has been the subject of criticism.
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