Tech giants such as the owners of Facebook, YouTube and X face massive fines if they fail to crack down on illegal content in the UK under new digital safety laws.
The Online Safety Act, which applies to over 100,000 platforms, requires firms such as Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, ETR:FB2A, SWX:FB), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), and X.com to remove or block harmful material, including fraud, terrorism, and child sexual abuse content.
From Monday, companies must also tackle suicide encouragement, drug sales, and extreme pornography or risk fines of up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue - potentially billions for the biggest players. In extreme cases, services could be taken down.
Ofcom, the UK’s media watchdog, has published codes of conduct outlining how firms should comply.
Measures include default privacy settings for children, tools to block harassment, and AI-powered image detection to prevent the spread of terrorist content and revenge porn.
The UK government insists the law is about tackling crime, not restricting free speech, despite criticism from the US.
An enforcement programme has been launched to assess safety measures being taken or that will soon be taken.
"Platforms must now act quickly to come into compliance with their legal duties, and our codes are designed to help them do that. But, make no mistake, any provider who fails to introduce the necessary protections can expect to face the full force of our enforcement action," said Suzanne Cater, enforcement director at Ofcom in a statement.
In January, Ofcom opened an enforcement programme into age assurance measures with all service providers that display or publish pornographic content.