Consultation on draft Guidance: A safer life online for women and girls – Ofcom
Ofcom are consulting on draft guidance, which sets out nine areas where technology firms should do more to improve women and girls’ online safety by taking responsibility, designing their services to prevent harm and supporting their users.
The Online Safety Act 2023 makes platforms – including social media, gaming services, dating apps, discussion forums and search services – legally responsible for protecting people in the UK from illegal content and content harmful to children, including harms that disproportionately affect women and girls.
Ofcom has already published final Codes and risk assessment guidance on how we expect platforms to tackle illegal content, and they’ll shortly publish the final Codes and guidance on the protection of children. Once these duties come into force, Ofcom’s role will be to hold tech companies to account, using the full force of their enforcement powers where necessary.
But Ofcom is also required to produce guidance setting out how providers can take action against harmful content and activity that disproportionately affects women and girls, in recognition of the unique risks they face.
The draft Guidance identifies a total of nine areas where technology firms should do more to improve women and girls’ online safety by taking responsibility, designing their services to prevent harm and supporting their users.