Recent announcements regarding the introduction of the Online Safety Act have caused widespread excitement in the industry and beyond (please see our recent note on the Act here). However, until the new legislation is fully introduced, Ofcom has demonstrated that it remains committed to enforcing the current regime in respect of video-sharing platforms (under Part 4B of the Communications Act 2003).

On 14 May 2022, footage of a shooting which took place in Buffalo, New York, was livestreamed on the online streaming site, Twitch, before being made available more widely across a variety of other video-sharing platforms. Following the attack, Ofcom immediately opened dialogue with these platforms to understand what measures were in place to protect users from viewing the footage. One such platform was BitChute, in relation to which Ofcom raised particular concerns:

  • while BitChute’s terms and conditions prohibited the publication of hate and terror content on the site, its ability to enforce these terms was limited on the basis that BitChute’s content moderation team was small and worked restricted hours. This, therefore, impeded its ability to respond quickly to reports and allowed the footage to remain accessible on the BitChute platform for a number of days after the attack; and
  • BitChute’s on-platform reporting function was only available to users who had a registered account (and, therefore, did not permit non-registered users to make reports, other than by e-mail).

In response to Ofcom’s concerns, BitChute has made changes to its operations, including:

  • tripling the size of its content moderation team and increasing the number of working hours so that its safety team is operational 24/7;
  • changing the design of its platform to allow non-registered users to directly report potentially harmful content;
  • committing to collect additional metrics in order to allow Ofcom to measure the effectiveness of these changes; and
  • becoming a member of both Tech Against Terrorism and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism.

The case of BitChute is interesting as it demonstrates the old adage that actions speak louder than words: indeed, while its important to get the content of platform terms and conditions right, regulators will pay particular attention to the procedures which platforms put in place in order to implement such terms. This sentiment was emphasised in Ofcom’s response to the BitChute case in which Ofcom commented that, even under the current legislation, its “…focus is to drive improvements to platforms’ systems and processes to minimise the risks of users encountering harmful videos online in the first place”.

We, like many, eagerly await further information regarding the formal implementation of the Online Safety Act, particularly as it is clear that Ofcom is as committed as ever to the protection of internet users. We can only see this becoming even more of a priority for Ofcom in the coming months as the focus on online harm intensifies.