Safety technology

This page contains details of an online randomised control trial to test different ways to encourage children to choose to use content controls to restrict exposure to harmful content during the sign-up process of a mock social media platform.

This research examines how the presentation of sensitive content settings influence user choices.

Ofcom has today provided an update on our enforcement activity under the Online Safety Act.

This page outlines that we’ll sometimes access regulated online services as part of our work to make online services safer for the people who use them.

In this research project, we partnered with the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) to conduct a comprehensive behavioural audit of popular social media and video-sharing platforms (VSPs). This audit, carried out between December 2024 and January 2025, systematically mapped online design practices and assessed their impact on user behaviour and outcomes, focusing on four core areas of interest: 1) sign-up process, 2) features and functionalities affecting time spent online, 3) negative sentiment tools, and 4) reporting.

Many online platforms use verification badges—like the classic ‘blue tick’—but what influence do they have on user behaviour? In this study, we explored how people engage with content from verified vs unverified users.

Content controls help users to tailor their feed to their preferences and reduce exposure to unwanted, potentially sensitive, or distressing content. In this research we tested how small design changes can impact on how much use people make of the content control tools available to them.

These reports outline the findings from a programme of research to explore the potential links between persuasive features on platforms and potential child financial harm. It also provides insight into children’s online spending habits across social sites and apps, video sharing platforms and gaming, and examines the influencing factors and attitudes towards children’s spending in these environments.

This discussion paper covers two online experiments run by Ofcom that tested how platform choice architecture affects use of content controls among adult users.

The Online Safety Act (OSA) makes businesses, and anyone else who operates a wide range of online services, legally responsible for keeping people (especially children) in the UK safe online.