New OfCom Rules

[HAWK]

Yup we’re on top of it. We have been monitoring it for most of the year and are prepared.

@SeanDrownedinSound

Our community are looking into this but it’s unclear to me if the onus is on us or Discourse

It’s on both of us. We provide the tools to comply with the OSA (because we have to comply here on Meta) but you are responsible for how you use them.

The key considerations are:

Proactive Moderation: Discourse must have systems in place to identify and remove illegal or harmful content swiftly.

We have this with the illegal content flag that @ondrej posted above, which should trigger you to use the existing tools to remove the content in a compliant way and do the appropriate reporting.

Report Harmful Content: Provide mechanisms for users to report harmful or illegal content, and ensure rapid responses to such reports.

As above – the illegal flag or other custom flag types are available for you to use. We are making a change so that not logged in users can also flag illegal content. Do we have an ETA for that @tobiaseigen?

Content Takedown Procedures: Have a clear procedure for the removal of harmful content, including transparency reports showing how content is moderated.

You will need to define your internal processes yourself, but the data is all logged so you will be able to report on it when required.

Annual Transparency Reports: Platforms (i.e. Discourse customers) must submit annual transparency reports detailing how they are handling harmful content, the volume of takedowns, and actions taken to protect users.

See above.

User Empowerment: Provide users with clear information on content risks and moderation policies, including what actions are taken against violations.

This is on you to create.

Conduct Risk Assessments: Perform mandatory risk assessments to identify potential harm to users, particularly children. Update these assessments regularly.

Also on you to organise.

Respond to Violations: Have a plan in place for quickly responding to violations or incidents that may arise, ensuring proper reporting to authorities where necessary.

Also on you.

Regular Audits: Conduct internal audits to ensure continuous compliance and readiness for Ofcom inspections or enforcement actions.

And… also on you.