'It's harrowing': Inside Ofcom's investigations unit tasked with policing the internet

Signs on the walls urge anyone who's not approved to work with distressing content to stay away, and partitioning screens ensure the team's privacy.

This is where Ofcom's Online Safety Act investigations unit operates, building cases against tech firms suspected of allowing harmful material on their platforms, without adequate safety measures like age checks in place.

They often have to deal with horrifying evidence, including pro-suicide material, revenge porn, and child sexual abuse material.

LBC has been granted exclusive access to the team on the condition that we protect the identities of the frontline workers, and some of the names in this report have been changed.

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"[The work is] harrowing at times," Emily, a member of the frontline enforcement team, told LBC. "It's really quite distressing to see and it does take its toll.  We do have support for staff wellbeing. But yes, it would be wrong to say that some days aren't incredibly tough.”

Her colleague Alice agrees, referencing the relentless nature of the job: "It's not just that we may come across that content when looking at services, but we're [also] talking about it day in and day out."

Ofcom's director of enforcement, Suzanne Cater, explains why protecting her team’s identities is necessary: "[They're] at the coal face of dealing with some of the worst content on the internet... and there are people who violently disagree with the work that Ofcom is doing... we have seen attacks directly on Ofcom employees online."

The Online Safety Act became enforceable in March 2025, when the deadline passed for platforms to complete illegal-content risk assessments, with further legislation to protect children rolled out last July.

Under the Act, Ofcom can impose penalties of up to £18 million, or 10% of a company’s global annual revenue.

But it's a long road from platforms having insufficient safety measures in place, to being hit with a fine.

Sites suspected of being in breach of the codes deal first with Ofcom's compliance team.

It's made up of about 70 members of staff, who work to build relationships with online services to explain the rules and encourage them to make the necessary changes.

Amelia, who specialises in engaging with the adult industry, says they take a "carrot and stick approach" with companies, offering to help them understand their obligations under the Act, while the prospect of large fines looms in the background.

"Enforcement is a very effective tool," she says. "In the face of non-compliance, all services know that we are able to levy very heavy penalties and take appropriate action when necessary."

Amelia and her colleague Joe attend adult industry conferences around the world on behalf of Ofcom to build relationships with tech companies that have sites in the UK.

"The reception [among the adult industry] initially was one of surprise," says Joe. "I think we are still the only regulator who regularly attends these conferences. So initially there was a bit of surprise. A bit of hesitancy about engaging with us... but now actually our presence is welcomed."

They both agree that the nature of the work can be "challenging," adding that members of the compliance team also encounter distressing material online.

Joe, who has a managerial role, says team members can tap out if the nature of the work gets too much: "At any point, any member of my team can put their hand up and say, actually, I need a break from this. And there are structures in place to move them to another piece of work kind of immediately."

If, despite efforts from the compliance team, companies continue to refuse to make changes, cases are then escalated to the enforcement team, who start putting together a dossier of evidence of wrongdoing.

Since the Act became enforceable nearly a year ago, the team has opened investigations into thirty companies covering 96 sites.

They've completed investigations into seven of the companies, and have issued fines totalling more than £3m against six of them.

But just one company - Itai Tech Ltd, which ran a 'nudification' site - has paid their penalty of £55,000.

"We don't measure success through fines and the amount we recover," says Suzanne Cater, Ofcom's director of enforcement.

"What we do is measure our success through the outcomes that we are driving. And... penalties are just one tool that we have to bring companies into compliance. We will take steps to recover penalties. It is obviously more challenging when services are based overseas."

Despite the scale of the government's stated ambition for the Online Safety Act - to make the UK the "safest place in the world to be online" - there are just 50 people on the enforcement team.

"We could have probably 200 more people and I could keep them busy for the next 10 years running enforcement cases taking every single piece of non-compliance that we find out there," says Cater.

"But that isn't an effective use of resources. So what we do is use enforcement as a very tactical, strategic tool as part of our broader driving compliance toolkit."

"The scale [of the task at hand] is at times enormous," says Emily.

"Obviously, the online world has been unregulated for many years... and we haven't actually even had our powers for a full year yet. So we are, we are aware of the challenge. It's a big cultural change, with platforms that haven't had this previous regulation. But we're really up for that challenge.

"We've got a great team, we've got really committed members of staff to drive this change and it's really important to us."

A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology told LBC: "The Online Safety Act already gives Ofcom significant enforcement powers including substantial fines. Our regulator is among the best resourced in the world already, and we will continue to make sure they have the resources they need to enforce the law."