Online Safety Act 2023: Tech responsibility

Under the Act, tech companies have a responsibility to prevent and rapidly remove illegal content, like terrorism and revenge pornography, and to stop children seeing material that is harmful to them such as bullying, content promoting self-harm and eating disorders, and pornography. Failure to comply could lead to significant fines of up to £18m or 10% of global annual revenue, whichever is biggest.

Sarah Pearce, partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth, said the Act was ‘a groundbreaking piece of legislation which has been surrounded by tough debate. Attention is likely to focus on the role of Ofcom in enforcement and any code of conduct the regulator draws up on how to comply with the new rules’.