Page 3 - BPW-UK - E-news - Edition 128 - Februaey-March 2025

Online Safety Event 21/1/25

Led by Jilly Rogers. President of the National Council of Women
of Great Britain

This was of special interest due to our resolution passed at conference in 2023 on
misogyny including online harm.
There were some frightening statistics presented by the CEO and Advocate for Girl
Guiding. It is a growing problem which is getting worse and affects women and girls
disproportionately.
- 77% of children surveyed aged 7-21 had experienced online harm.
- Over 1 in 5 have seen rude images, sexist jokes and hate speech.
- 57% of 17-21 year olds have experienced sexual harassment online and have seen false
images using AI and filters which undermine confidence in pursuit of perfection and can
affect mental health.
Although social media can have many benefits for youngsters in widening their horizons,
fake news and images need to be monitored and taken down quickly.
The Online Safety Act (OSA) passed in 2023 (5 years in the making) has already been
overtaken by the fast pace of social media in developing policy and legislation. There will
be further amendments in the spring of this year;
OFCOM (the Government Office of Communications) is the government approved regula-
tory and competition authority involved in communication services. Jess Smith repre-
senting OFCOM reported that they were tasked with making online services safer for the
user and ensuring that companies have effective systems in place to protect the user
from harm.
This will not be an easy task against the big tech platforms as toxic content is great for
business revenue. Every adult also has a part to play in protecting young people from
harm.
OFCOM can only regulate what is in the current legislation and provide ‘gates’ to limit ac-
cess but still offer choice (freedom of speech). Progress has already been made in tight-
ening up age restrictions on certain sites.
The OSA places extra media duties on OFCOM to heighten public awareness and under-
standing on how to protect themselves at the same time allowing choice as long as it is
not illegal under the Act.
To further reduce any harmful influence against the powerful media companies a global
action plan needs to be developed. This will need to be taken to CSW at the UN.
For further information please go to the UK Government website and look up OSA.

Chris Nendick
VP Advocacy