Preparedness for online safety regulation
Public Accounts Committee
Closed
Inquiry
The Online Safety Act establishes a new regulatory regime for online safety, with the aim to make the UK the safest place in the world to go online. In 2022, 68% of UK child internet users (aged 13-17), and 62% of adult users (aged 18+), indicated they had experienced at …
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1
Recommendation
28
Conclusions
1
Report
1
Oral session
1
Letter
1
Event
Activity timeline 5 events
3 May
2024
2024
21 Feb
2024
2024
Report published
6 Dec
2023
2023
Oral evidence
6 Dec
2023
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
6 Dec 2023
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Preparedness for online safety regulation
Dame Melanie Dawes · Ofcom
Jessica Smith · Ofcom
Sarah Connolly · Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Sarah Munby · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Reports 1 report · click to expand
| Title | HC No. | Published | Items | Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thirteenth Report - Preparedness for online safety regulation | HC 73 | 21 Feb 2024 | 29 | Responded |
Recommendations & Conclusions
6 results
2
Conclusion
Rejected
Thirteenth Report - Preparedness f…
Develop mechanisms to provide direct feedback to complainants on their impact on Ofcom actions.
The public may be disappointed with the new regime if people cannot quickly see improvements to their online experience or understand how their complaints are acted on. As the regulatory regime will not be fully implemented until 2026, there is …
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Government Response
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that Ofcom is not empowered to adjudicate individual complaints and these should be directed to service providers. Ofcom will analyze complaints for trends and its enforcement decisions will note where they were informed by user complaints.
HM Treasury
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5
Conclusion
Rejected
Thirteenth Report - Preparedness f…
Undertake regular skills audits to identify and address capability gaps across all staff levels.
Effective regulation will require Ofcom and the Department to sustain the skills and people they need in a fast-moving and highly technical sector. To date, Ofcom has successfully recruited the skills it requires, recruiting people from industry and a wide …
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Government Response
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that both Ofcom and the department already have effective half-yearly and yearly workforce planning processes, respectively, to ensure they have the necessary skills and capabilities. Ofcom also has a systematic horizon scanning function and the department has delegated learning budgets to assess skill needs.
HM Treasury
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9
Conclusion
Rejected
Thirteenth Report - Preparedness f…
Online Safety Act mandates service providers establish procedures for handling user complaints.
The Act requires all regulated service providers to put procedures in place for handling complaints from users and affected people about potentially harmful content.14 Ofcom will set out, through its codes of practice, how it expects service providers to handle …
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Government Response
The government disagrees, stating that the Act does not empower Ofcom to adjudicate individual complaints, which should be directed to service providers. Ofcom will analyze complaint trends, and eligible entities can bring super-complaints. The Secretary of State may also impose a duty for alternative dispute resolution on Category 1 services.
HM Treasury
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10
Conclusion
Rejected
Thirteenth Report - Preparedness f…
Ofcom lacks powers and resources to address individual online content complaints effectively.
Ofcom itself is only required to consider complaints from organisations about systemic issues arising from a service provider and impacting on online safety. It has no specific powers to take action, or compel regulated service providers to take action, on …
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Government Response
The government explicitly disagrees, stating Ofcom is not empowered to adjudicate individual complaints, which are the responsibility of service providers. Ofcom will analyze complaints for trends, acknowledge them, and direct users to support, while super-complaints will be considered from eligible entities.
HM Treasury
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11
Conclusion
Rejected
Thirteenth Report - Preparedness f…
Ofcom's contact centre will gather individual complaints to inform identification of emerging harms.
Ofcom told us that, while it is not able or resourced to act on individual complaints, its contact centre will be set up so people are able to submit complaints to Ofcom. Ofcom explained that this would provide a valuable …
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Government Response
The government explicitly disagrees, stating Ofcom is not empowered to adjudicate individual complaints, which should be directed to service providers. Ofcom will use reported complaints to identify trends, acknowledge them, and direct users to support, and super-complaints from eligible entities will be considered.
HM Treasury
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12
Conclusion
Rejected
Thirteenth Report - Preparedness f…
Ofcom needs to manage public expectations and develop a feedback loop for individual complaints.
In other areas of Ofcom’s regulation, such as broadcasting, Ofcom can take action over complaints about individual programmes. We asked Ofcom how it will manage public expectation, including the risk of disappointment that people cannot complain to Ofcom about individual …
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Government Response
The government disagrees, stating that the Act does not empower Ofcom to adjudicate individual complaints, which should be directed to service providers. Ofcom will analyze complaint trends, and eligible entities can bring super-complaints. The Secretary of State may also impose a duty for alternative dispute resolution on Category 1 services.
HM Treasury
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Correspondence 1 letter
9 Nov 2023
Correspondence from Richard Burgon MP, House of Commons, re Preparedness for online safety regulation, dated 25th October 2023
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