Overview
- New recommendations call for prompts to reconsider posts, timeouts for repeat abusers, rate limits to curb pile‑ons, demonetisation of misogynistic content, multi‑account block or mute tools, stronger privacy defaults, and hash‑matching to remove non‑consensual intimate images.
- The guidance applies to social media, dating, gaming and pornography services and urges improved reporting flows, broader content recommendations to avoid echo chambers, and testing new features for misuse.
- Ofcom developed the package with input from victims, survivors, safety experts and advocacy groups, citing widespread harms to women in sport, politics and other public roles.
- Charities and sports bodies welcomed the move and urged the government to make it a statutory code, while the UK tech secretary pressed platforms to use every lever to protect users.
- Industry pushback has emerged, with X criticising Ofcom’s approach and online communities including 4Chan and Kiwi Farms filing lawsuits in the United States.