The UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, has issued powerful new guidance to social media platforms, demanding they take immediate action to protect women and girls from online abuse, misogyny, and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
Combating Digital Mobs and Image-Based Abuse
Effective immediately, the new guidelines present a direct challenge to tech giants. A key recommendation is for platforms to enforce limits on the number of responses a single post can receive. This measure is designed to dismantle harmful online 'pile-ons', where individuals are overwhelmed by a deluge of abusive replies.
Furthermore, Ofcom is pushing for the widespread adoption of 'hash-matching' technology. This system creates a unique digital fingerprint, or 'hash', of an intimate image reported by a user. Platforms can then use a shared database of these hashes to proactively detect and remove the same image if it is uploaded again, offering crucial protection against so-called revenge porn and deepfakes.
The Force of the Online Safety Act
These recommendations are made under the authority of the landmark Online Safety Act (OSA). While the guidance is not yet legally mandatory, Ofcom has placed significant pressure on companies to comply. The regulator has announced it will publish a detailed report in 2027 naming how individual platforms have responded.
Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, stated she had been shocked by the stories of abuse suffered by women and girls. "We are sending a clear message to tech firms to step up and act in line with our practical industry guidance," she said. "We will hold companies to account and set a new standard for women’s and girls’ online safety in the UK."
Additional Measures and Industry Response
Beyond rate limits and hash-matching, Ofcom's comprehensive guidance includes several other proactive steps for platforms:
- Deploying prompts that encourage users to reconsider before posting abusive content.
- Imposing 'time-outs' for users who repeatedly misuse a platform.
- Preventing misogynistic users from earning advertising revenue from their posts.
- Allowing users to block or mute multiple accounts simultaneously.
However, the nonprofit organisation Internet Matters has warned that without the guidance being made statutory, many tech companies may simply ignore it. Rachel Huggins, its co-chief executive, cautioned that "unacceptable levels of online harm which women and girls face today will remain high" if adoption is not enforced.
Ofcom has confirmed it is consulting on whether to make the hash-matching recommendation a formal, mandatory requirement, signalling a potential future toughening of the OSA if the industry's response is deemed insufficient.
