New rules for online services: what you need to know
"The Online Safety Act 2023 makes businesses, and anyone else who operates a wide range of online services, legally responsible for keeping people (especially children) in the UK safe online."
Website administrators should familiarise themselves with the new rules to determine whether their website is impacted.
To help get you started this article includes a few extracts taken from the full guidance as published by Ofcom (UK Office of Communications responsible for implementing the legislation) on its website at the link below.
Who do the new rules apply to?
The Online Safety Act 2023 applies rules to services that are made available over the internet (‘online services’).
This might be a website, app or another type of platform.
If you or your business provides an online service, then the rules might apply to you.
When deciding if the rules apply to you, there are three important questions to consider:
- Does your service have links with the UK?
- Do you provide a relevant service?
- Do any exemptions apply to your service?
If your answer to the first two questions is yes, and no exemptions apply, then it's likely that the new rules apply to your service.
Source: Ofcom (see link at top of this article).
Which services do the new rules apply to?
The rules apply to services where:
- users can create and share content, or interact with each other (the Act calls these ‘user-to-user services’);
- users can search other websites or databases (‘search services’); or
- you or your business publish or display pornographic content.
A user-to-user service is an online service that allows its users to interact with each other. This includes the ability to generate, upload or share content, such as images, videos, messages or comments, with other users of that online service.
The rules only apply to relevant parts of these services: the parts where users can:
- encounter content generated, uploaded or shared by other users;
- search multiple websites and databases;
- encounter relevant pornographic content.
All other parts of a service are not covered by the rules.
Source: Ofcom (see link at top of this article).
"Imagine you run a retail website where users can buy your products. This isn't relevant, because there's no way for users to interact with each other.
But what if the same website has a chat forum, where users can write messages to each other? This is relevant, because you're allowing users to interact with each other.
So, you should only consider the forum bit when referring to the 'service'."
Source: Ofcom (see link at top of this article).
Check if the Online Safety Act applies to you
Read more: Ofcom Information for Industry Guide
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