LEGAL, REGULATORY & COMPLIANCE CONSULTANTS

Online Safety, Content moderation & Regulation

As the Online Safety Bill progresses and the Digital Services Act comes into force, platforms and publishers need to ensure that they have in place robust systems to identify, assess and manage user generated content risk, with mechanisms for the removal of unlawful or harmful content. At Handley Gill, we support organisations to understand their obligations and implement compliance frameworks.

Online Safety, Content Moderation & Regulation

Safe-harbour provisions intended to protect online hosts and other intermediaries from liability in respect of third party and user generated content are being gradually chipped away. Liability for data protection, defamation and other unlawful content can now befall organisations which fail to impose appropriate monitoring and moderation of content, or don’t respond swiftly and effectively when faced with a complaint.

First the EU’s Digital Services Act and now the UK’s Online Safety Act 2023 only serve to expand the scope of organisations who need to take these issues into account, and increase the obligations on affected organisations, bringing additional regulation, complexity and cost.

We advise organisations on their obligations, assist them to put in place appropriate procedures, and advise on their responses to specific decisions and complaints, balancing competing principles and rights.

We also engage with organisations in relation to what forthcoming legislation could mean for their organisation, and support them in their lobbying efforts.

Access our Online Safety and Online Harms Resources page.

Follow our dedicated online safety Twitter/X account.