The communications watchdog Ofcom has been accused of backing big tech over the interests of safety.
Rachel de Souza (Children’s commissioner)
said she warned Ofcom last year that its proposals for protecting children under the Online Safety Act were too weak. New codes of practice issued by the watchdog on Thursday have ignored her concerns, she said.
“I made it very clear last year that its proposals were not strong enough to protect children from the multitude of harms they are exposed to online every day,” de Souza said. “I am disappointed to see this code has not been significantly strengthened and seems to prioritise the business interests of technology companies over children’s safety.”
De Souza, whose government-created role promotes and protects the rights of children, said she had received the views of more than 1 million young people, who said the online world was one of their biggest concerns. The codes of practice would not allay those fears, she said. “If companies can’t make online spaces safe for children, then they shouldn’t be in them. Children should not be expected to police the online world themselves.”
Under the children’s codes, online platforms will be required to suppress the spread of harmful content, such as violent, hateful or abusive material and online bullying. More seriously harmful content, including that relating to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, will need to be kept off children’s feeds entirely, as will pornography.
The codes require age-checking of users by platforms at risk of showing harmful content to children, such as social media networks. Those age checks could take the form of facial age estimation or matching a face to an uploaded ID document. Once the platform has gauged whether a user is under 18 it can then deploy measures to ensure they have a safe online experience.
From 25 July, sites and apps covered by the codes must implement those changes – or use other “effective measures” – and risk fines for breaching the act. The measures apply to sites and apps used by children, ranging from social media to search and gaming.
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