Ofcom launches its first investigation under the Online Safety Act

Ofcom has today launched its first investigation into an online service provider under the Online Safety Act (OSA). While many might have anticipated Ofcom's priority targets to be large social media or video sharing platforms, this first investigation relates to an (unnamed) online suicide forum.

As of 17th March, in-scope service providers were required to have completed their illegal harms risk assessments and to have taken steps to implement safety measures to mitigate the harms identified in those assessments. Ofcom's first OSA investigation will be looking at whether this particular forum provider has failed to meet these obligations, as well as its obligation to respond adequately to a statutory information request. 

Notably, Ofcom asked a number of organisations (including the forum provider subject to this investigation) to provide it with copies of their illegal harms risk assessments by the end of March. It is understood that the forum provider in question failed to provide an adequate response to this request and to other communications from Ofcom regarding its OSA compliance efforts.

Ofcom has highlighted that its starting point towards driving compliance is to engage with service providers and give them the opportunity to understand what they need to do to comply with their new OSA duties. However, Ofcom reiterates (as it has in many of its recent announcements) that it will not hesitate to take enforcement action where it identifies serious non-compliance.

In the case of this forum provider, Ofcom will gather and review evidence to establish whether there has been an OSA breach. If it concludes that there has, it will issue a provisional notice of contravention to the provider, giving it an opportunity to make representations before Ofcom makes a final decision.

This latest action serves as a clear reminder that Ofcom is taking its new duties under the OSA very seriously and that it isn't just the big-name platforms that are on its radar. For in-scope organisations that have not yet taken steps to comply, now is the time to start addressing this.