Is your online business entity protected by the Online Safety Act?

 With the October passage of the Online Safety Bill into law (the "Act"), the Office of Communications (Ofcom) was given extensive authority to oversee internet service providers. Important information about the legal framework of the Act will be made public during stakeholder interaction and consultation for the secondary laws, guidelines, and codes of practice that will support it.

The government projected—possibly conservatively—that 25,100 tech enterprises would fall under the purview of the new internet regulatory framework in its Impact Assessment. Many smaller to mid-size tech platform providers—such as online forums, gaming sites, social media platforms, and blogging platforms—are likely to be required to comply with the new regulatory regime, even though the Act's primary goal is to establish a new regulatory regime primarily to address illegal and harmful content online accessed via the "Big Tech" platforms.

The Act mandates the following online service providers to comply with legal requirements:

Services between users. This has to do with companies that offer "internet services" that let consumers "encounter content," or material created, uploaded, or shared by other users.

1. A service that is made available online or through a combination of the internet and an electronic communications service is referred to as a "internet service." As a result, it includes a wide range of services, such as apps, websites, and other software. Whether payment and/or a subscription are necessary in order to use the service is irrelevant.
2. b) The term "encounter content" refers to the act of reading, seeing, hearing, or engaging in any other way with content transmitted by an internet service, whether in a public or private setting. This content can include written texts, voice conversations, photos, videos, music, and data of any kind. Thus, a service that allows users to see and send audio-visual content from other users or send direct messages via instant/private messaging services will be classified as a user-to-user service.

c) A service will be classified as user-to-user as long as it contains features that enable content exchange between users, regardless of whether this sharing actually occurs.

d) The percentage of user-generated material on the platform is likewise irrelevant. As an illustration, the Act will nonetheless apply to a website that has distinct online forum features that allow users to communicate and publish, even though these features are only a small part of the overall functioning of the website.

2. Services for searching. This has to do with companies that offer search services and/or search engines that let consumers look up content on numerous websites and databases according to various commercial law firms in UK.

a) The Act defines a "search service" as the widely accepted concept of a search engine, such as Google or Bing, but the definition also covers services offered by virtual assistants, like "Siri" and "Alexa."

• The Act only applies to search services that let users search several databases or websites. Relevant search services include those that allow you to browse through a list of items, enter search terms into a search box, and/or filter content using tags or metadata.

3. Services featuring pornography. This pertains to any internet service provider that posts or shows non-user-generated pornographic content.

Regulation of foreign-based internet services

To be classified as a provider of user-to-user, search, or pornographic services, an online service provider needs to have "links with the UK." In actuality, it is simple to get beyond that obstacle because any business that may be accessed by individuals in the UK, has a target market comprised of UK users, or has a sizable number of UK users will be considered to have "links with the UK."

The Act considers user-to-user, search, and pornographic services to be "Regulated Services," unless they come under one of the exclusions listed below. This is provided that the relevant services have links with the UK. Ofcom will now be able to take necessary legal action against any Regulated Service provider, regardless of their location.