The Online Safety Act allows eligible organisations representing users of regulated online services or the public to raise a 'super-complaint' with Ofcom. The super-complaints regime commenced on 1 January 2026.
What a super-complaint is
Super-complaints allow eligible organisations to bring robust evidence and facts to Ofcom’s attention about features of regulated online services or the conduct of those services that lead to a material risk of causing significant online harm, adverse impact on the right to freedom of expression, or otherwise having a significant adverse impact.
This is an important way in which external organisations can help Ofcom by identifying significant risks to users of these services or the public. Ofcom has a fixed period to consider each super-complaint and publish a response.
Who can make a super-complaint
Super-complaints can only be made by organisations, not individuals. There’s no set list of organisations that can bring a super-complaint, however there are criteria set out in legislation to determine which organisations are eligible to make a complaint. In summary, to be able to make a super-complaint, an organisation must demonstrate that it:
- represents the interests of people who use regulated online services, members of the public, or a specific group of people
- can be relied on to act independently from regulated online services
- routinely contributes significantly, as an expert, to public discussions about any aspect of online safety matters
- can be relied on to have regard to Ofcom’s guidance about making super-complaints
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You can find more details in Ofcom’s final guidance for super-complaints (PDF, 625 KB).
Individual complaints
If an individual wishes to raise a complaint about an online service, they should raise this directly with the online service in question first. Service providers are best placed to respond to individual complaints, and if appropriate, take action.
If an individual has done that and remains concerned, they can tell Ofcom via our online complaints portal. While Ofcom can use this data to shape our picture of emerging issues and trends, we are not empowered to act on or investigate individual complaints or to instruct services to remove or reinstate specific content.
Making an admissible super-complaint
An organisation wishing to submit a super-complaint to Ofcom must ensure it meets admissibility criteria set out in legislation. In summary, a super-complaint must:
- Be in writing,
- Provide the name and email address of an individual representing the organisation who may be contacted by Ofcom,
- Set out the feature of one or more regulated services, or the conduct of one or more service providers, or the combination of such features and such conduct, to which the complaint relates,
- Set out the regulated services or service providers to which the super-complaint relates,
- Set out if the super-complaint relates to a material risk of (i) causing significant harm to users or members of the public, (ii) significantly adversely affecting the right to freedom of expression, (iii) another significant adverse impact (or some combination of the three),
- Be accompanied by evidence that supports the claims made,
- Provide sufficient information for Ofcom to (i) be able to verify that any claims made about the evidence in the complaint are accurate, including the source of the evidence and any specific findings quoted in the complaint, (ii) be able to evaluate and interpret that evidence, and (iii) be satisfied that the evidence is relevant to the complaint, current and objective,
- If the complaint relates to a single regulated service or a single provider of one or more regulated services, that complaint should also explain why the complaint is of particular importance or that the complaint relates to the impacts on a particular large number of users of the service or members of the public.
You can find more details in Ofcom’s final guidance for super-complaints (PDF, 625 KB).
What happens after a super-complaint is submitted
We will contact you to let you know the outcome of your eligibility assessment within 30 days. The time limit for the eligibility assessment begins once we receive the completed submission template containing the complaint and evidence.
If it meets the admissibility requirements, we will usually send you a response to the super-complaint within 90 days, unless we need further information, in which case we will advise you of this.