Interactive heatmap simplifies online safety in a fragmented global regulatory landscape

In recent years, regulators around the world have put dedicated online safety legislation at the top of their agendas.

A common feature among online safety regulations is their extra-territorial scope, namely the requirement to protect users residing or accessing the internet from a certain jurisdiction, regardless of the services' location. Global online service providers must therefore have extensive knowledge of and comply with a multitude of online safety measures, a complex task in a fragmented regulatory landscape.

In response, leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has created an interactive heatmap, its Online Safety: A Global Regulatory Overview' tool which helps global online service providers keep track of the latest developments in online safety across 10 countries, regions and territories - Australia, the EU, the Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, the People's Republic of China (PRC), Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, the UK and the US, with more countries and territories to follow. Regularly updated, the tool allows users to explore each jurisdiction in isolation or to compare the regimes across different jurisdictions.

Hayley Brady, partner and UK head of Media and Digital, comments, "Online safety is a dynamic landscape, constantly evolving with new laws, voluntary codes and guidance. Faced with a technocratic society and borderless digital economy, our online safety heatmap helps users get to grips with current and upcoming changes to online safety measures around the world."

Across the regions, the tool provides an overview of:

• Emerging global themes in online safety regulation
• Key online safety measures - their status and application
• The type of online harms addressed
• The territorial scope of regulations
• Penalties for non-compliance and enforcement action 

Several pieces of legislation dedicated to online safety have started to apply in recent years or will start to do so shortly. The Digital Services Act came into force in November 2022, with a staggered application of its terms the following year, marking one of the EU's most significant updates to its digital regulatory framework since the e-Commerce Directive in 2000.  

In the UK, Claire Wiseman, knowledge lawyer, notes, "The UK's Online Safety Act will have wide-sweeping ramifications when its provisions around illegal content start to apply in March 2025. However, against the backdrop of the previous self-regulatory regime, the Act itself only provides a framework and marks the beginning of the UK's online safety trajectory. Businesses will need to keep a close eye on further codes of practice and guidance from Ofcom and legislation from the Secretary of State around subsequent phases of the Act."

The protection of children is at the heart of many of the region's online safety measures, along with a wide variety of other harms addressed. In Thailand, the measures prohibit child sexual abuse material, as well information affecting national security and violating lèse-majesté laws, to name a few. In Australia, The Online Safety Act 2021 focuses on minimising harm in relation to cyber bullying or abuse, child exploitation and abhorrent violent content, alongside harm-agnostic measures, such as minimum age requirements. 

The balancing act between protecting fundamental rights and addressing online safety feeds into the fragmented approach adopted by different jurisdictions, in particular in the United States with its First Amendment in the US Constitution to protect freedom of speech.

Stringent penalties for and enforcement powers against non-compliance are seen across all regions, as well as criminal liability for senior management in some of the countries. In Australia, fines of up to AU$49.5 million can be handed out, alongside the removal of content. In Singapore, non-compliance with The Online Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act may result in fines of up to SG$ 1 million as well as criminal prosecution. Kwok Tang, co-head of the Global TMT sector team, says: "The severe penalties for non-compliance with online safety measures in many regions around the world demonstrate the lengths that authorities will go in order to protect safety online and ensure compliance remains a board level issue."

'Online Safety: A Global Regulatory Overview' be accessed here.