Ofcom warns online service providers over recent UK civil disorder

A horrific attack in Southport on 29 July was soon followed by civil unrest. While the attack provided the initial catalyst for the unrest, which featured clashes with police, the motives for the rioters seemed varied. One apparent driver was online speculation about the nature and motives of the attacker, which fed other sociopolitical grievances.

Ofcom’s open letter is in response to that, demanding UK-based video-sharing platforms ‘protect their users from videos likely to incite violence or hatred.’ “We therefore expect video-sharing platforms to ensure their systems and processes are effective in anticipating and responding to the potential spread of harmful video material stemming from the recent events,” it continues.

It goes on to warn that, when Ofcom publishes its final codes of practice and guidance in reference to the Online Safety Act later this year, “regulated services will have three months to assess the risk of illegal content on their platforms, and will then be required to take appropriate steps to stop it appearing, and act quickly to remove it when they become aware of it.”

Uncharacteristically the letter doesn’t once mention the term ‘misinformation’, but this situation seems to be a clear case of faulty information directly leading to harm. What these online platforms could have done to prevent it, however, is another matter, since nobody knew much about the attacker when these misleading rumours started spreading.

Useful censorship at a time like this is very difficult. There are so many digital channels through which people can get information that, even if harmful misinformation is quickly identified and censored, the genie will probably already be out of the bottle. Furthermore, online platforms already devote considerable resource to removing illegal content, so Ofcom seems to be urging them to get ahead of the game regarding content that is not yet illegal.

“In a few months, new safety duties under the Online Safety Act will be in place, but you can act now – there is no need to wait to make your sites and apps safer for users,” concludes Gill Whitehead. A link to those duties would have been helpful. Ofcom has its work cut out in eradicating the spread of potentially harmful content online and, as ever, the danger is that it will end up censoring the wrong material in its desire to be seen to be doing something.