Category: Online Safety

Some news bits from the week that are worth a read CityFibre notifies 200 staff of possible redundancy CityFibre has put forward organisational changes that may result in up to 200 roles being impacted. A consultation has been started. It’s been described as being due to slower progress on consolidation in the market. Hat tip […]

In an effort to reduce the amount of money people loss through sophisticated scam messages that use the SMS system Ofcom is introducing new rules to make it harder for criminals to target people. Fraud amounted to 45% of all reported crime in England and Wales in 2025, and something like £1.28 billion was lost […]

The problem of fake and scam adverts across multiple platforms has been growing and often they will feature a well known celebrity with some fake claim to pull in the unsuspecting public. Ofcom is making it very clear to the Big Tech platforms that they MUST address this issue. Ofcom research indicates 51% of adults […]

While it is VMO2 who have highlighted a new scam message, it is one that everyone with a mobile should be prepared for. Fraudsters are posing as a telecoms company and invoking the urgency part of scamming to claim your mobile SIM is about to expire and you need to login to accept new terms […]

Ofcom has announced that another company has been fined under the Online Safety Act 2023 for failing to protect children from accessing pornographic content. First Time Videos LLC operates two websites that have been found to be in breach. “Ofcom has determined that First Time Videos has failed to comply with section 81 of the […]

The UK Government announced widely expected bans for young children using social media, and limitations on uses by 16 and 17-year olds. These are due to come in next spring and will affect platform such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and X but will exclude messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal. There’s much left […]

Building on previous legislation such as the Online Safety Act 2023 and the Children’s Well Being and Schools Act 2026, the heavily trailed social media ban has now been officially announced. The timeline is that the plan is to bring everything to Parliament before Christmas 2026 and come into force in Spring 2027. The restrictions […]

Ofcom has taken an unusual step in that it has written to online service providers who operate in the UK about the increased risk of their services being used to stir up hatred and promote violence. This is specifically regarding civil unrest in Belfast. This is not the first time that Ofcom have taken the […]

A TalkTalk study looking at how we all use our mobile phones suggests that many of us will pick up our phones to fill in gaps of just 30 seconds, and that the total average screen time per day may be 3 hours and 18 minutes a day. This is double the screen time of […]

A company that runs four pornography websites has been fined £500,000 for its failure to implement highly effective age assurance measures on UK visitors by Ofcom. Additionally for failing to respond to statutory requests a further fine of £100,000 has been levied. The Online Safety Act 2023 gives Ofcom powers to levy fines on companies […]