The Online Safety Act makes providers of online services legally responsible for keeping UK users - especially children - safe online, even if they are based outside of the UK.
Complying with the Act will help your business or service to protect and build trust with your users and operate a safer service.
Failure to comply with the law could result in enforcement actions and – in the most serious cases – fines of up to 10% of your qualifying worldwide revenue, or £18 million, whichever is greater.
Steps you must take to comply
It is time to review your risk assessments
You must have already completed your risk assessment(s) if your service is in scope of the Online Safety Act. You also have a duty to keep your assessment(s) up to date and we recommend that you review them at least annually. A review may simply mean collecting new evidence to update the risk levels and safety measures in your existing assessment.
Additionally, you need to review your risk assessment if:
- Ofcom changes its Risk Profiles: You need to consider how these changes may affect your service, such as our new priority offences for illegal content.
- You plan to make a significant change to your service: Before making the change, you must carry out a new risk assessment relating to the impacts of the proposed change.
Read the relevant pages to ensure you comply with your risk assessment duties for:
Providers of online services must comply with a range of duties under the Act.
You can follow the steps below to check if you provide a service that is in scope of the rules, and if it is, how to comply with the duties that apply.
- Check if the Online Safety Act applies to your service
- Carry out your illegal content risk assessment, and comply with your record-keeping, safety and related duties for illegal content
- Complete your children’s access assessment to determine if the protection of children safety duties apply
- If applicable, carry out your children’s risk assessment, and comply with your record-keeping, safety and related protection of children safety duties
Many of these duties are ongoing. You will need to ensure that you keep your assessments and safety measures up to date as required.
If you provide a service that publishes or displays pornographic material, you may have additional duties to comply with. You can find out more about these duties on the Adults Only page.
More information for providers of online services
Additional resources including documents and guidance related to the Act.
Subscribe for updates about online safety
Subscribe for updates on any changes to the regulations and what you need to do.
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