How social media is preparing for the Online Safety Act – Almudena Lara, policy director, Ofcom

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5 • 6 Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2024

⏱️ 31 minutes

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Summary

Almudena Lara, policy director at Ofcom discusses how social media firms are gearing up for the incoming enforcement of strict rules designed to keep children safe in digital spaces.

Ofcom is the UK's media and communications regulatory body. The watchdog was recently granted new powers in regulating content on the internet via the Online Safety Act. Lara explains why there has been an extended gap between the act passing and the rules being enforced and how AI could become both an incredible tool for content moderation and a dangerous weapon in harmful content creation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Companies should not wait for the legislation to come into place to start doing the right thing.
0:12.0	And also for new services and startups, they should start to think now about how do they embed safety.
0:20.0	They have basically ignored the fact that there are children in their services
0:27.6	and have treated all their users as if they were adults.
0:36.6	Children are accessing social media very early, and all our research suggests that they are being exposed to harmful content.
0:46.3	From the first time founders to the funds that back them, innovation needs different.
0:54.9	Our episode partner, HSBC Innovation Banking, is proud to accelerate growth for tech and life
1:01.0	science businesses, creating meaningful connections and opening up a world of opportunity
1:05.8	for entrepreneurs and investors alike.
1:09.0	Discover more at www.h.bc innovation banking.com slash
1:14.4	EM dashGB. Hello and welcome to the UKTN podcast, a weekly chat with the movers and shakers
1:25.7	of the UK tech industry and the destination for all
1:28.8	things UK tech related. And today I am joined by Elmadenna Lara, policy director of child
1:36.1	safety at offcom. Welcome. Hi, hi, Jane. Thank you so much for joining me. Now, obviously
1:42.7	the Online Safety Act is on a lot of people's
1:46.3	lips. It's been a long time in the sort of planning, and now we're getting to the sort of nitty-gritty
1:51.7	of getting it actually out there. So let's start by you just telling me a little bit about
1:56.6	where we are with this sort of such an important piece of legislation?
2:08.6	So the Act was passed by Parliament last October, so October 2023.
2:24.6	And over the past year, the team at Ofcom has been working on how that legislation, that framework, translates into concrete requirements for the services in scope of the Act. So over the course of the last year, we have published three main consultations, one on the requirements for services to combat illegal harms on their services.
2:39.0	One specifically for porn service providers on the use of age assurance of how they are going to have to stop children from accessing their services.
2:50.0	And the third consultation that we have published
	...

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