United Kingdom: Office of Communications issued Protection of Children Code of Practice for user-to-user services

On 24 April 2025, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) submitted the Protection of Children Code of Practice for user-to-user services to the Secretary of State, as required under section 41 of the Online Safety Act 2023. The Code outlines recommended measures for providers of regulated user-to-user services to ensure compliance with safety duties protecting children, content reporting duties, and complaints procedures, as specified in sections 12, 20, and 21 of the Act. The Code includes detailed guidelines on governance, age assurance, content moderation, reporting and complaints, recommender systems, settings, functionalities, user support, terms of service, and user controls, with specific measures tailored to the risk and size of the service. The Code is subject to Parliament's approval and is expected to enter into force on 25 July 2025. Online services must complete child risk assessments by 24 July 2025 and implement safety measures by 25 July 2025 to protect children from harmful content, or face enforcement.