Bluesky friends, after three and a bit years in the hotseat, I'll be leaving my role as Ofcom's Head of International Online Safety at the end of this year 🌍

A month out from the UK Online Safety Act's age assurance duties kicking-in, large and small porn platforms have today signaled their intention to implement protections to protect children from viewing adult content.

www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...

My international online safety team at @ofcom.bsky.social is hiring!

We're looking for someone to lead policy areas and manage relationships internationally, as we implement the UK Online Safety Act alongside counterpart rulebooks across the world 🌐

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ofcom.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/Ofcom_Career...

Looking forward to delving into the draft DSA guidelines on protecting children online. A cursory review suggests high-level coherence with what @ofcom.bsky.social is asking of companies under the UK OSA. Positive for children and for regulated companies digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/c...

Interesting article on the potential for Ireland to become a leader in safety tech internationally. I would add compliance professional services to this e.g. compliance auditing, compliance consulting, etc).

www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/i...

If, like me, you haven't had the time or the headspace to closely engage with the published DSA risk assessments and audit reports, this article from @markscott.bsky.social is a great primer.

www.techpolicy.press/5-things-to-...

A big day today for the Global Online Safety Regulators Network, as we publish our three-year strategic plan and annual report for 2024.

These documents set out where we're coming from and where we want to go to as a regulatory community (1/4)

www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/...

Welcome Oliver Griffiths, who has joined Ofcom to lead our implementation of the Online Safety Act. Oliver brings a wealth of international regulatory experience, and joins as we gear up for a crucial year of delivery. www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/...

How X assesses the risks of its own platform, in one handy overview. (From its own DSA risk assessment released today) transparency.x.com/content/dam/...

By the far the best interviewer the BBC has. An incredible loss to the organisation.
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

There's been a lot of focus on Australia's proposals to restrict social media access for under-16s recently. Something which has gone under-reported is that the government is also currently reviewing the national online safety act, and has been signaling significant policy ambition (1/2).

This week is a big one in DSA land, as the initial set of designated VLOP/SEs are expected to publish versions of their Y1 risk assessment and audit report. My special interest in all this stems from the fact that platforms will be completing similar such assessments in the UK by March 25 (1/3)

Job-ad: EU sherpa for Keith Starmer, £153,000 - £200,000 annual salary www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi...

The Global Online Safety Regulators Network held its annual meeting last week, bringing together regulators from Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. For Ofcom it's an honour to be elected chair of the Network again for 2025, working alongside newly-elected vice-chair Coimisiún na Meán. Ever forward.

Last Friday, Ofcom, DG CNECT, and the AU eSafety Commissioner came together to discuss regulatory coordination and coherence in our respective approaches to the online child protection.

A fantastic day of discussions on cutting-edge policy, and an important statement of internationalist intent.