United Kingdom: Office of Communications released stakeholder responses to consultation on additional duties for categorised services

On 13 October 2025, the Office of Communications of the United Kingdom (Ofcom) released stakeholder responses to the consultation on the third phase of online safety regulation, concerning additional duties under the Online Safety Act 2023 for categorised services. The consultation sought input on how providers ensure transparent and consistent enforcement of terms of service, protect journalistic and democratic content, and offer user empowerment tools and identity verification options. Ofcom also sought evidence on preventing fraudulent advertising and managing parental access to information about deceased children’s accounts. The responses were received from forty organisations, including 5Rights Foundation, Digital Policy Alliance, GeoComply, Google, OneID, Open Rights Group, Reddit, Revolut, Wikimedia and The Open Identity Exchange. Google stated that Ofcom's categorisation thresholds are broad and requested flexibility in compliance approaches, stating that prescriptive Code measures could conflict with existing safety systems. Reddit noted that the duties were designed for centralised platforms and are incompatible with Reddit's community-led, interest-based model. Reddit also stated that prescriptive enforcement of duties on journalistic content protection, widespread identity verification, and filtering unverified accounts would undermine user privacy and anonymity. Wikimedia submitted that its community-led governance model is incompatible with platform-imposed content controls, stating that such requirements would harm editor participation and the projects' educational mission, while being unfeasible for a non-profit organisation committed to privacy and universal access.