Ofcom

Thank you to everyone who joined our event yesterday to bring together government, charities, tech platforms and others working to tackle the harm women and girls face online. We know women and girls are more likely to experience harm online than men and boys. And our CEO Melanie Dawes, and the Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology delivered inspiring speeches committing action to address this. The event also included a panel session chaired by Cathy Newman, featuring expert insights from: - Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, Nicole Jacobs; - David Miles from Meta ; - Emma Pickering from Refuge; - Author and TV personality, Georgia Harrison; and - Ofcom’s Jessica Smith. Finally Ofcom's Almudena Lara closed the event and set out the next steps from Ofcom. Early next year we will publish draft guidance on protecting women and girls online, and the expertise, experience and passion from all those at yesterday's event will be vital to developing this. Thank you to everyone who took part on the day. Together, we can help create a safer life online for women and girls.

It's International Fraud Awareness Week and protecting people from fraud is a key priority for Ofcom. Collaboration is crucial to achieving this. This new blog explains how we're working with the Financial Conduct Authority to tackle online fraud and scams.

It’s good to see Instagram bringing these changes in before regulation starts to bite, and we’ll be pressing for companies to do more to protect and empower their users. When the UK’s online safety laws are fully in force, the largest sites and apps will have to give people more control over what they see. https://lnkd.in/e56WWScA

🚀 Kickstart your career with Ofcom! Graduate scheme applications for 2025 are now open. Through our graduate programme, you’ll get to play your part in helping communications work for everyone. Whether you’re shaping policies, enforcing standards or driving research, our graduate scheme pathways offer a great opportunity to build a career that really matters. Pathways available include: 🔹 Policy, research and enforcement: Rotate across different projects over two years, from crafting new policies to helping enhance online safety. 🔹 Specialist: If you're passionate about engineering, economics or tech – our specialist pathways in these areas could be perfect for you. Our grads know what it takes to succeed, and they’re here to share their application journey with you. 🎥 Watch here. 👉 Start your journey today. Find out more and apply now 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dyJZKEun

🤝 Working together to help protect children online. Last week we met with online safety regulators European Commission DG CNECT and the Australian eSafety Commissioner in Brussels to share experience, best practices, and solutions for industry on how to improve the protection of children online. As we're finalising our Protection of Children statement, our discussions focused on key common pillars of our respective online safety policy work - including risk assessment and mitigation, age assurance, and safety-by-design. 🌍 The services we regulate and the harms we want to protect children from are global, so we emphasised the importance of collaboration and an international outlook. This roundtable discussion was the first in a series between the three regulators as we each continue our journey to implementing online safety rules. Thanks to all who joined us for a brilliant and productive discussion! 👏💡 #Regulation #OnlineSafety

🎉 Huge congratulations to Ofcom's Elizabeth Tebboth, named in the ReelWorld's 30 Under 30 'One to Watch' list!    From student radio volunteer to Senior Broadcast Licensing Executive, Beth’s passion for radio and dedication to broadcast regulation has garnered her a place on this list. We’re proud to see her recognised for her hard work within radio.   👏 Well done, Beth!   #BroadcastingSuccess #30Under30 #Ofcom

This week, the Ofcom Board made a visit to Belfast, including a stop at Stormont to meet Assembly Members and other stakeholders.    The event brought together representatives from telecoms, consumer, technology, film, and safeguarding sectors. There was a keen interest in our work around Online Safety, highlighting its importance and relevance to many of the discussions. 📱🔒   Board members also enjoyed a tour of the Parliament Buildings and learned about its fascinating history. 🏛️   Thank you to Deborah Erskine MLA and Stormont for hosting us.    #Ofcom #OnlineSafety #StakeholderEngagement #NorthernIreland

❓Which were the most and least complained about broadband, mobile, landline and pay-TV companies April - June ❓ ➡️ Swipe to look at the latest figures. Fergal Farragher, our policy director, said: “Communications services are now essential to our daily lives and customers deserve a high level of service. We call on providers to improve their performance in areas in which they are currently falling short.” 🔗 Find out more: https://lnkd.in/e72kth-P

🌍💻 Today we were pleased to welcome members of the Global Online Safety Regulators Network to our London office, for the network’s annual in-person meeting.   Since launching in November 2022, regulators from nine countries have come to share insights and coordinate on approaches to online safety.    This year, as chair, we were pleased to host our annual in-person meeting welcoming members from Europe, Australia, Fiji, and South Korea.   We’re excited to continue this important work, fostering global collaboration to create safer online environments for all.    Shoutout to our member organisations: eSafety Commissioner (Australia) Online Safety Commission (Fiji) Arcom (France) Coimisiún na Meán (Ireland) Autoriteit online Terroristisch en Kinderpornografisch Materiaal (Netherlands) Korea Communications Standards Commission (South Korea) Council for Media Services (Slovakia) Film and Publication Board (South Africa)

Today, we’ve published the final regulations for the UK’s next spectrum auction, bringing us one step closer to the 2025 launch. This auction will include high-frequency mmWave spectrum bands, ideal for delivering data in densely-populated areas and in busy places like stadiums and train stations. We’ve also released key information for potential bidders. Find out more here 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e9-qedxi