Online Safety

The UK Government today announced that it intends to ban social media platforms from offering services to children under 16, alongside wider restrictions on certain online functionalities that the Government has identified as harmful to children.

The announcement follows the conclusion of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s (“DSIT”) consultation, “Growing up in the online world,” which received more than 116,000 responses (we originally wrote about that consultation here). The Government intends to bring the first regulations to Parliament before the end of the year using powers created by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (“CWSA”), with protections expected to come into force in Spring 2027. Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of significant developments reshaping the UK’s online safety framework. We summarize some of these latest developments below.

Continue Reading Online Safety in the UK: Social Media Ban for Under 16s and Other Recent Developments

On March 25, 2026, the UK’s Office of Communications (“Ofcom”) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) published a joint statement setting out their common expectations for age assurance on online services (“Joint Statement”). The Joint Statement is aimed at services likely to be accessed by children that fall within the scope of the Online Safety Act 2023 (“OSA”) and UK data protection legislation, and is designed to help providers comply with both their online safety and data protection obligations when deploying age assurance.

The Joint Statement arrives alongside a broader push from both regulators—including Ofcom’s recent call to action directed at major tech firms, an open letter from the ICO urging platforms to strengthen their age checks, and several enforcement actions by both regulators.

Continue Reading Ofcom and ICO Issue Joint Statement on Age Assurance

On 3 February 2026, the second International AI Safety Report (the “Report”) was published—providing a comprehensive, science-based assessment of the capabilities and risks of general-purpose AI (“GPAI”). The Report touts itself as the largest global collaboration on AI safety to date—led by Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio, backed by an Expert Advisory Panel with nominees from more than 30 countries and international organizations, and authored by over 100 AI experts.

The Report does not make specific policy recommendations; instead, it synthesizes scientific evidence to provide an evidence base for decision-makers. This blog summarizes the Report’s key findings across its three central questions: (i) what can GPAI do today, and how might its capabilities change? (ii) what emerging risks does it pose? And (iii) what risk management approaches exist?

Continue Reading International AI Safety Report 2026 Examines AI Capabilities, Risks, and Safeguards

On November 8, 2024, the UK’s communications regulator, the Office of Communications (“Ofcom”) published an open letter to online service providers operating in the UK regarding the Online Safety Act (“OSA”) and generative AI (the “Open Letter”).  In the Open Letter, Ofcom reminds online service providers that generative AI tools, such as chatbots and search assistants may fall within the scope of regulated services under the OSA.  More recently, Ofcom also published several pieces of guidance (some of which are under consultation) that include further commentary on how the OSA applies to generative AI services.

Continue Reading Ofcom Explains How the UK Online Safety Act Will Apply to Generative AI

In April 2019, the UK Government published its Online Harms White Paper and launched a Consultation. In February 2020, the Government published its initial response to that Consultation. In its 15 December 2020 full response to the Online Harms White Paper Consultation, the Government outlined its vision for tackling harmful content online through a new regulatory framework, to be set out in a new Online Safety Bill (“OSB”).

This development comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of, and regulatory changes to, digital services and markets. Earlier this month, the UK Competition and Markets Authority published recommendations to the UK Government on the design and implementation of a new regulatory regime for digital markets (see our update here).

The UK Government is keen to ensure that policy initiatives in this sector are coordinated with similar legislation, including those in the US and the EU. The European Commission also published its proposal for a Digital Services Act on 15 December, proposing a somewhat similar system for regulating illegal online content that puts greater responsibilities on technology companies.

Key points of the UK Government’s plans for the OSB are set out below.Continue Reading UK Government Plans for an Online Safety Bill