Britain’s newest online censorship law came into force on Monday, as the country’s telecoms regulator published a list of content that social media platforms must remove to avoid multi-million-pound fines.
Ofcom, the British government’s media and telecommunications watchdog, published a set of guidelines that platforms like Meta, Google, and TikTok must comply with by March or risk punishment under the Online Safety Act, which was passed in 2023.
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The guidelines list a range of 130 illegal acts that these platforms must forbid and prevent, including incitement to terrorism, human trafficking, and the sharing of child sexual abuse material.
Also prohibited is the “stirring up of racial hatred” or “hatred on the basis of religion or sexual orientation,” which although ill-defined are already illegal under British law.
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Some offenses are “complex,” Ofcom wrote. “They may be more about a series of interactions between users, or may involve behavior that takes place partly offline, or may involve thinking about the nature, identity or age of one or more of the users concerned.”