‘Small but risky’ online services under the Online Safety Act: letter from DSIT Secretary of State
Published 10 September 2024
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The Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
3rd Floor, 100 Parliament Street
London
SW1A 2BQ
10 September
‘Small but risky online services’
Dear Melanie,
I know you, and everyone working at Ofcom, share my concerns about the proliferation of extremely detrimental material online, which is often far too easy to access, especially by children. I appreciate your organisation’s hard work to date in setting up the regulatory regime for the Online Safety Act (‘the Act’). I am writing on a related issue regarding so-called ‘small but risky services’, which is an area of concern that has been raised with me directly.
As you will be aware, these are online services (often forums) which are known to provide information to individuals about how they can die by suicide, or exist purely to stoke hate and division – often spreading illegal misinformation, racism and incel content.
The Act was designed to ensure that tech companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users. Indeed, at the very minimum, all user-to-user and search services in scope of the Act will have duties to protect their users from illegal content and, where relevant, to protect children from content that is legal but nonetheless harmful to them.
However, many services, such as the types of services I have referenced above, do not have their users’ best interests at heart. I am therefore keen to understand how Ofcom will monitor these small but risky online services. In particular can you update me on how you intend to use the full force of enforcement.
Yours sincerely
The Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology