Online Safety Act: Ofcom clarifies expected implementation timeline

As the final sitting of the Committee Stage in the House of Lords took place last week, Ofcom published an updated version of its roadmap to implement the Online Safety Bill the week prior - "How Ofcom is preparing to regulate online safety".

Given the significant delays in the progress of the Online Safety Bill to date, in-scope organisations and practitioners will welcome this further clarity on the anticipated timeline to implement the Bill – which is now expected to receive Royal Assent in Autumn 2023.

Much of the detail of the Bill, including clarity around how in-scope organisations ought to comply with the duties and obligations it contains, is envisaged under secondary legislation and codes of practice or guidance which have yet to be published. Further certainty around the anticipated timing of the process for publishing this detail will help organisations prioritise and plan for compliance with the Bill - potentially alongside other international frameworks addressing online safety, such as the EU Digital Services Act. It also provides an opportunity for related industry and stakeholder input, including to ensure the expectations set out in the secondary legislation, codes of practice or guidance are workable.

Ofcom's roadmap envisages a phased approach to consultations around the codes of practice and guidance, with the following focus:

• Phase one: Illegal harms duties
• Phase two:  Child safety and pornography duties
• Phase three: transparency, user empowerment, and other duties on categorised platforms

Please click on our consolidated interactive timeline below which sets out both the path of the Bill since its inception up to now, as well as the estimated trajectory of the legislation taking into account Ofcom's updated roadmap.

For further information on the Online Safety Bill please refer to our related blogs here, here, here, here and here or contact Hayley Brady, Claire Wiseman or James Balfour.