Online Safety Act
The Online Safety Act is a United Kingdom law, regulated by Ofcom, that requires services hosting user-generated content to protect users from illegal content and to keep children safe online. It imposes duties to assess and mitigate risks, with fines of up to £18 million or 10% of global annual revenue for non-compliance.
Qué Es Online Safety Act?
The Online Safety Act (OSA) is the UK's primary framework for regulating user-generated content and online safety. It places legal duties on user-to-user and search services to tackle illegal content, protect children from harmful material, and apply their terms of service consistently. Ofcom is the regulator responsible for enforcing the Act and publishing the codes of practice that explain how services should comply. The OSA introduces phased duties, including illegal-harms risk assessments and child-safety measures, and gives Ofcom strong enforcement powers. Like the EU's Digital Services Act, the OSA shifts content governance from voluntary best practice toward enforceable legal obligation, raising the bar for how quickly and consistently illegal comments must be handled.
What the Online Safety Act Covers
The Act focuses on two broad priorities: removing illegal content (such as fraud, threats, and other criminal material) and protecting children from content that is legal but harmful to minors. In-scope services must carry out risk assessments, put proportionate systems and processes in place to reduce those risks, and enforce their own rules consistently. Ofcom backs this with codes of practice and the power to issue substantial fines. The emphasis is on having robust, demonstrable systems rather than reacting case by case.
Why It Matters for Brands With UK Audiences
Although the heaviest duties fall on platforms and large services, the OSA reflects a broader regulatory direction that affects every brand engaging UK consumers on social media. Fraudulent comments, scam links, and abusive content in a brand's comment sections are exactly the categories the Act targets. Brands that run ads and build communities in the UK benefit from moderation practices that mirror the Act's expectations: assessing the risks their comment sections attract, mitigating them with reliable systems, and applying rules consistently rather than arbitrarily.
How FeedGuardians Supports Safer Comment Sections
FeedGuardians provides the reliable, systematic moderation that the Online Safety Act's risk-based approach favours. It automatically detects and hides illegal and harmful comments, including fraud, scams, and abuse, the moment they appear, and applies the same brand-defined rules everywhere. Because every action is logged, brands gain a clear, demonstrable record of how they keep their comment sections safe, which supports the systems-and-processes mindset the OSA promotes.
Ejemplos de Online Safety Act
Fraudulent Investment Comments
A financial-services brand finds its UK ad comments targeted by scam accounts promoting fake crypto investments. This is precisely the kind of illegal, fraud-adjacent content the Online Safety Act prioritises, and reliable removal systems are expected.
Protecting a Younger Audience
A brand whose products appeal to teenagers must be mindful of harmful content reaching minors in its comment sections. Systematic filtering of abusive and inappropriate comments aligns with the Act's child-safety focus.
Consistent Rule Enforcement
Rather than deleting offensive comments inconsistently, a brand applies the same automated moderation rules across every UK campaign, demonstrating the consistent enforcement the OSA expects.
Común Preguntas
Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, is responsible for enforcing the Online Safety Act. Ofcom publishes the codes of practice that explain how in-scope services should meet their duties, runs risk-assessment expectations, and holds enforcement powers including significant fines.
Ofcom can issue fines of up to £18 million or 10% of a service's qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. In serious cases it can also seek business-disruption measures. These penalties apply to in-scope services rather than individual advertisers, but they drive the tightening moderation standards brands experience on UK platforms.
Both laws make platforms more accountable for user content, but they are separate regimes: the Online Safety Act is UK law enforced by Ofcom, while the Digital Services Act is EU law. The OSA places particular emphasis on child safety and a risk-assessment model, whereas the DSA emphasises notice-and-action and statements of reasons. Brands operating in both markets need to satisfy both frameworks.
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