The government this week published a letter outlining its strategic priorities for online safety encompassing identity technologies. The five areas that the government believes require attention are safety by design, transparency and accountability of companies, evolving regulation, inclusivity, and technology and innovation. The impact the digital landscape has on the economy and innovation motivates the government in ensuring that new and existing technologies are “safely developed” and mandated by the regulation, to derive benefits for citizens.
The Online Safety Act (the Act) is designated to tackle new protection for UK internet users, especially young people as quickly as possible. The ministerial statement focused on the Act enforcing rules for companies to “proactively identify and remove illegal content, including content related to terrorism, foreign interference, fraud, illegal abuse and threats, and stirring up hatred offences”. There should be no safe havens for fraud and illegal content to be exposed to users.
For the first time, the government exercised a liberty which was introduced through the Online Safety Act 2023 to state their priorities.
“Priority 1: Embed safety by design to deliver safe online experiences for all users but especially children, tackle violence against women and girls, and work towards ensuring that there are no safe havens for illegal content and activity, including fraud, child sexual exploitation and abuse, and illegal disinformation”.
The government would like to see a focus on developing the evidence-base around age-appropriate experiences to set our guidance for companies on how to protect children in different age groups. Companies should utilise available technologies to identify users and block their access to harmful sites.
32% of 13–17-year-olds encountered Primary Priority Content such as pornography, suicide or self-harm content in a four-week period in 2024. Transparency makes it easier to hold services account and identify criminality.
Ofcom duty has a vital role to play in delivering the Act as well as the government, for example researching new methods for keeping children safe and transparency reporting. They can recommend the adoption of technologies to services to outline a clear path for industry to take to comply with the duties in the Act.
The government still wants to ensure that there is space in the regulatory landscape for the innovation of age assurance technologies.
Read more details on the 5 government priorities:
- implementing safety by design to stop more harm occurring in the first place
- increasing transparency and accountability of online platforms
- maintaining regulatory agility to keep pace with changing technology and behaviour
- building an inclusive and resilient online society of well-informed users
- supporting continued innovation in safety technologies
