The Online Safety Act makes providers of online services legally responsible for keeping UK users - especially children - safe online, even if they are based outside of the UK.
Complying with the Act will help your business or service to protect and build trust with your users and operate a safer service.
Failure to comply with the law could result in enforcement actions and – in the most serious cases – fines of up to 10% of your qualifying worldwide revenue, or £18 million, whichever is greater.
Steps you must take to comply
Providers of online services must comply with a range of duties under the Act.
You can follow the steps below to check if you provide a service that is in scope of the rules, and if it is, how to comply with the duties that apply.
- Check if the Online Safety Act applies to your service
- Carry out your illegal content risk assessment, and comply with your record-keeping, safety and related duties for illegal content
- Complete your children’s access assessment to determine if the protection of children safety duties apply
- If applicable, carry out your children’s risk assessment, and comply with your record-keeping, safety and related protection of children safety duties
Many of these duties are ongoing. You will need to ensure that you keep your assessments and safety measures up to date as required.
If you provide a service that publishes or displays pornographic material, you may have additional duties to comply with. You can find out more about these duties on the Adults Only page.
More information for providers of online services
Additional resources, including documents and guidance related to the Act.
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