5Rights Consultation Response to Ofcom’s Illegal Harms Code

In February, 5Rights submitted a response to Ofcom’s consultation on protecting people from illegal harms online. 

5Rights acknowledges the scale of the task in preparing for the enforcement of the UK’s new online safety regime and welcomes Ofcom’s efforts in quickly producing the draft of the illegal harms code of practice.

Ofcom has clearly sought to understand many of the risks associated with illegal harms and mitigation methods currently in use to take down illegal content. Some thought has also been given to how default settings can prevent children from becoming victimised online. 

The proposals however fall far short of what is needed to deliver on the promises of the Online Safety Act, and demonstrate a highly concerning lack of consideration and alignment with existing UK regulation and best practice as concerns children, as well as with legislative intent.

Overall, we are very concerned that the intersection of how Ofcom has interpreted ‘measures’, ‘evidence’, ‘proportionality’ and ‘risk’ in these proposals will contribute to a regime that will slow down safety measures rather than drive innovation in safety standards. 

This is counter to the stated aims of this legislation. We urge a significant overhaul to this approach to refocus on corporate responsibilities for upstream due diligence and outcomes that do not cause harm, especially to children, in line with established law and best practice.