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

On 25 July 2025, the Protection of Children Code of Practice for user-to-user services comes into force, as required under section 41 of the Online Safety Act 2023, following its submission to the Secretary of State by the Office of Communications (Ofcom) on 24 April 2025. 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. Providers were required to complete suitable and sufficient children's risk assessments by 24 July 2025 and implement safety measures meeting the standards in the Code by 25 July 2025, with non-compliance potentially subject to enforcement action under Ofcom's regulatory powers.