This consultation sets out Ofcom’s latest proposals to strengthen our Codes of Practice for providers of online services, as part of our role under the Online Safety Act 2023.
We have already introduced our first set of codes on illegal harms, and our Protection of Children code will come into force in July 2025. Building on this work, we are now consulting on a further set of targeted safety measures designed to make online services safer by design.
These proposals respond to stakeholder calls for stronger action on known risks and are part of Ofcom’s ongoing commitment to act quickly and proportionately in delivering the online safety regime, as part of our ‘Year of Action’.
This consultation sets out our proposals across several areas, including:
Stopping illegal content going viral:
We want to reduce the spread of illegal content by making improvements to recommender systems and crisis response protocols.
Tackling harms at the source:
We’re proposing the expanded use of proactive technologies, such as hash matching to block known illegal images, and automated tools to detect harms like fraud, and illegal suicide content. We also propose to address repeat offending through new user sanctions.
Affording protections to children:
- Strengthening protections for children, including restrictions on interactions in livestreams and making more use of highly effective age assurance
- Recommending that services block access to users who share child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
- Recommending the use of proactive technologies to detect grooming and CSAM.
We are seeking views from a wide range of stakeholders - including service providers, civil society, law enforcement, and members of the public - to help shape the final versions of our codes of practice.
The consultation is open until 20 October 2025 and details of how to respond are set out in Annex 1-5.
If you have any questions on the consultation process, please contact us at ASMconsultation@ofcom.org.uk.
Responding to this consultation:
Please submit responses by using this consultation response form by 5pm on 20 October 2025.