Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 5
5
Accepted
Ofcom's powers insufficient for timely removal of individual NCII abuse content
Recommendation
Ofcom’s current enforcement powers, while welcome, are far too slow and not designed to help individual victims get abusive images of themselves on non-compliant websites taken down or have access to them restricted. The duties under the regulatory regime created by the Online Safety Act are a good start. However, further steps are required to effectively tackle the threat posed by NCII at an individual level, particularly where content is hosted overseas. (Conclusion, Paragraph 48) 52
Government Response Summary
The government offers partial acceptance, stating the Online Safety Act 2023 provides new duties and strong enforcement powers for Ofcom to tackle NCII abuse on online platforms and search services, which it believes will make a real difference.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Government response: Partial acceptance The Online Safety Act 2023 gives online platforms and search services new duties to put systems and processes in place to protect their users from illegal content, including NCII abuse. The provider of an online platform needs to take proportionate steps relating to the design and operation of their service to reduce the risk that it is used to facilitate NCII abuse. Providers of both platforms and search services also need to take steps to reduce the risk of users encountering NCII content. The Act should make a real difference in tackling the sharing of intimate images online. Ofcom is the regulator for this regime. Where services fail to fulfil their safety duties, it can ensure appropriate action is taken against those services. It has strong enforcement powers. These include powers to apply for court orders, through which internet service providers and other internet infrastructure providers can be required to withdraw services from non-compliant sites.