The Online Safety Act 2023 protects children and adults online. It passed into law on 26 October 2023.
Ofcom is leading on implementing the Act's provisions.
A number of new criminal offences were introduced by the Act and came into effect on 31 January 2024. The government has stated that these cover:
encouraging or assisting serious self-harm
cyberflashing
sending false information intended to cause non-trivial harm
threatening communications
intimate image abuse
epilepsy trolling
These offences apply directly to the individuals sending them, with convictions already made under the cyberflashing and threatening communications offences, the government has said.
More information about the Online Safety Act 2023 can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-explainer/online-safety-act-explainer.
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