United Kingdom: Opened consultation on Ofcom Online Safety Guidance on Judgement for Illegal Content

On 9 November 2023, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) opened a consultation on the Illegal Content Judgements Guidance under section 192 of the Online Safety Act. The public consultation is open until 23 February 2024. The proposal defines illegal content as "content that amounts to a relevant offence". The Act contains a list of 130 "priority offences" as well as further "other offences". The Act obliges the services to take action against content if they have reasonable grounds to believe that it is illegal. The guidance aims to establish a practical approach for services to make a judgment about illegal content for compliance purposes, emphasising that services should base these judgments on reasonable inferences. The Act does not require services to make judgments about illegal content if their own terms and conditions, which go beyond the Act's definition of illegal content, are properly applied and ensure compliance with the Act's obligations.