Liz Kendall criticised the sluggish pace of the media regulator and said families across the country ‘have been waiting too long for the protections’ under the Online Safety Act
Liz Kendall has sent a blistering letter to Ofcom expressing her deep concern and disappointment over delays to its online safety duties.
The Technology Secretary criticised the sluggish pace of the media regulator and said families across the country “have been waiting too long for the protections” under the Online Safety Act (OSA) to be implemented.
In particular, she raised concerns about the spread of antisemitic content online, warning Ofcom’s chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes that dealing with antisemitism is a “priority for this government”.
The media regulator is delaying implementing its new duties, which relate to harmful but legal content, such as hateful and abusive material in relation to race, religion, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.
Under the duties, social media firms would be forced to give adults the choice over whether they want that sort of content to feature on their feeds. The content is already banned for kids.
READ MORE: Lisa Nandy on online safety fears – ‘I worry about what my little boy sees on internet’
In its latest roadmap, Ofcom admitted it does not plan to publish the categorisation register and consult on the additional duties that apply to categorised services until around July 2026.
The OSA finally became law in October 2023 – and yet Ofcom did not start using some of its new powers until this year. Ofcom has been heavily criticised for being too slow to implement the law after undertaking painstakingly long consultations on updating its guidance.
In her letter, Ms Kendall said: “While I understand the need to ensure the regime is robust, I would like to express my deep disappointment in the delays to the overall implementation of additional duties on categorised services that have been set out in Ofcom’s roadmap.”
She continued: “I am pleased that Ofcom has reverted to the original timelines for delivery of the Terms of Service duties, but the job is not yet done. We need to maintain an urgent sense of momentum to implement the remaining duties and ensure that we are maximising the levers that the Act provides.
“I remain deeply concerned that delays in implementing duties, such as user empowerment, could hinder our work to protect women and girls from harmful content and protect users from antisemitism. Ofcom will continue to have the government’s full backing to use all its powers to ensure that services are putting users’ safety first and I continue to urge you to look at where you can expedite your processes, and the user empowerment duties specifically.”
In a section specifically on antisemitism in her letter, the Cabinet minister added: “I am deeply concerned about the spread of antisemitic content. The Prime Minister has been clear that dealing with this is a priority for this government.”
An Ofcom spokesman said: “The timeline for categorisation has been affected by factors beyond our control, in particular a legal challenge against Government that raised complex issues. In the meantime, change is happening – sites and apps now have legal duties to protect people, especially children, and we have already opened investigations into over 70 services.”
Ofcom’s children’s code of conduct came into force in July this year. Under the media regulator’s codes, online sites must introduce robust age verification tools – including facial scans, photo ID and credit card checks – to stop underage kids accessing things they shouldn’t, such as pornography.
They have also been ordered to tame toxic algorithms and take faster action on removing harmful content including self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, extreme violence and dangerous online challenges.
Elsewhere, today in the Commons, MPs urged AI minister Kanishka Narayan to tackle chatbots which urge children to end their own lives. Mr Narayan told the Commons AI-based search tools are already covered by the Online Safety Act, which puts a duty on social media and search engine firms to steer children away from seeing illegal content.
But Conservative backbencher Bob Blackman warned that “the reality is now that chatbots in particular are prompting young people to commit suicide and also to self-harm”.
Technology minister Mr Narayan, whose portfolio includes AI (artificial intelligence), replied that each case of suicide and self-harm was a “deep tragedy”. He continued: “We have looked very carefully at these issues. Some chatbots including live search and including user-to-user engagement are in the scope of the Online Safety Act.
“We want to ensure the enforcement against those, where relevant, is robust. Of course, the Secretary of State (Liz Kendall) has looked in particular at this and commissioned work to make sure that if there are any gaps in the legislation, we are looking at it fully and taking robust action, too.”