Social media firms 'must tame their algorithms' head of Ofcom tells LBC
Ofcom's head tells LBC's Nick Ferrari that major social media platforms must do more to protect children and the regulator is targeting algorithms to make the internet safer.
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Dame Melanie Dawes, head of Ofcom, said they have requested that major companies such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram present plans by the end of the September on how they will make effective change to their algorithms.
While she was confident that Ofcom would get a response from the targeted companies, she acknowledged the difficultly in controlling viral content from sites such as TikTok
She told Nick that we need to "make sure that those algorithms that they feed to our kids are safe."
Dame Melanie said "change is happening now" and the regulator was taking significant action to stop malicious or inappropriate content from being accessed by children.
Since July age verification checks have come into effect on porn sites. According to Dame Melanie all of the top 10 porn sites followed Ofcom's guidance, as did major companies like X and Reddit.
The regulator is now targeting non-compliant sites showing adult and malicious content.
Since March the regulator has opened 47 investigations, with the first enforcement case being raised agains a pro suicide site. The action forced the site to "geo bloc the UK" effectively ending its ability to be accessed by users in the UK.
However, when asked how many fines had been imposed by any of the sites under investigation or others refusing to comply with the age verification checks, Dame Melanie responded that no fines had been levied so far.