The draft Children’s Safety Code contains over 40 “practical steps” for web services to ensure child protection. These include preventing children from encountering harmful content, implementing effective age checks, and conducting a Children’s Risk Assessment. The regulator is also urging tech firms to be proactive about safety issues, warning that companies falling short of their legal duties can expect enforcement action, including sizeable fines. The government has stated that it wants the UK to be the safest place to go online in the world.
Key takeaways:
- Ofcom, the U.K. Internet regulator, is introducing a new Children’s Safety Code to improve child safety online. The code will require tech firms to implement better age checks, filter and downrank content, and take other steps to assess harmful content.
- The code is currently in draft form and open for feedback until July 17. Enforcement is expected to begin next year, with firms given three months to complete their initial child safety risk assessments after the final code is published.
- Failure to comply with the Online Safety Act could result in serious consequences for UK-based web services, including fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover and criminal liability for senior managers in certain scenarios.
- The draft code includes more than 40 "practical steps" for web services to take to ensure child protection is integrated into their operations. This includes preventing children from encountering harmful content, implementing effective age checks, and providing more choice and support for children and their caregivers.