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The Online Safety Act is a watershed moment for children, requiring tech companies to follow strict measures that give them a high level of protection, and ensure their services are made safe by design.

To meet this moment Ofcom must use its new powers to set a high bar for tech companies to adhere to their duties. This is critical to creating the safe and rights-respecting digital world children deserve – one in which they can flourish and thrive.

Today, we join 21 organisations of the Children’s Coalition for Online Safety in setting a baseline of measures the children’s safety code of practice – the framework of how tech companies must build safety into their services - must meet. This statement builds on the voices, expectations and lived experiences of children and their families. Our recommendations require tech companies to:

1. Give high standards of protection to children using high-risk services, irrespective of the size of the service;
2. Prioritise children's safety in product design and development;
3. Take a comprehensive approach to risk mitigation that considers age-appropriate access to content, features and functionalities, safety and privacy settings, user reporting, media literacy, and the advice of external experts and children themselves.
4. Give safety teams sufficient resources and autonomy to prioritise children's best interests, even when these conflict with commercial interests; and
5. Consider the impact of their business model on safety and ensure governance and accountability checks and balances are strong.

You can read our statement here.