Illegal content duties are already in force and Ofcom can enforce them.
Treat the illegal content risk assessment as the control design baseline for moderation, detection, escalation, and law enforcement cooperation.
Structured answer sets in this page tree.
Cited legal and guidance references.
All in-scope user-to-user and search services need systems and processes to reduce the risk that their services are used for illegal activity and to take down illegal content when it appears. The government implementation materials state that the illegal risk assessment deadline was 16 March 2025 and that Ofcom could enforce the regime from 17 March 2025.
The assessment is not a policy summary. It should identify the illegal content and illegal activity risks created by service features, user behavior, recommendation logic, reporting paths, and abuse vectors.
Controls should map directly to the risk scenarios the assessment identifies.
Government materials highlight priority offences and high harm areas such as fraud, extreme pornography, harassment, stalking, and public order offences. Small but risky services remain a stated enforcement priority even where the service is not large.
The right control set for a suicide forum, a general social platform, and a search service will not look the same.
The illegal harms codes were approved after being laid on 16 December 2024, and Ofcom published risk assessment guidance and its policy statement on the same day. That means services should now be operating inside a live regime, not a draft one.
Evidence should therefore show not only policy intent but actual execution since the March 2025 deadline.
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