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Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has imposed a GBP 950 000 penalty on the provider of an online suicide discussion forum for continuing failures under the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA). The decision marks a further expansion of the OSA enforcement beyond pornography and age-assurance obligations (see IRIS 2026-1:1/25, IRIS 2026-3:1/10 and IRIS 2026-4:1/3) into the Act’s illegal-content duties concerning content that may encourage or assist suicide. Ofcom has not named the forum or provider because of the nature of the service. The regulator says the forum had been cited in connection...

On 18 March 2026 the government published its Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence (the Report), which follows a consultation that ran from 17 December 2024 to 25 February 2025. Under section 136 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (the Act), the Secretary of State for DSIT and DCMS must, before the end of the period of nine months starting from the day on which the Act was passed (19 June 2025), prepare and publish a report on the use of copyright works in the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, and present this report to parliament. The consultation received 11...

On 19 March 2026, Ofcom determined that the online discussion platform 4chan had failed to comply with section 12 of the Online Safety Act 2023 (the Act) by not using effective age assurance systems to prevent children from encountering pornographic content. In addition to the penalty imposed, if matters were not corrected by 1 April 2026, a daily penalty of GBP 500 would be imposed, for a maximum of 60 days, starting from the day after the compliance deadline. In addition, Ofcom determined that 4chan had failed, and continued to fail, to comply with its duty under section 9(2) of the Act to...

The UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has intensified enforcement of the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) by imposing two additional financial penalties on operators of adult websites that failed to implement legally required age-assurance measures. The decisions, issued in February 2026 against Kick Online Entertainment S.A. (Kick) and 8579 LLC, follow earlier enforcement action against AVS Group and other providers (see IRIS 2026-1:1/25) and demonstrate that the regulator has moved decisively from oversight of compliance programmes to active sanctioning. Notably, the GBP 1.35 million penalty...

From 25 July 2025, pornography services reachable in the United Kingdom must operate "highly effective" age checks. Ofcom has now clarified how general online safety duties are being operationalised in the UK through specific expectations on product design and presentation. It explains its approach to evaluating compliance where any visibility precedes verification. In short, where an age check sits is not cosmetic. If pornographic material is visible before the age verification check, the duty may already have been breached. The statutory basis is the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA)....