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Ofcom taking action against 'several' companies for potential Online Safety Act breaches, following LBC investigation
24 April 2025, 06:02 | Updated: 24 April 2025, 09:17
Ofcom is taking enforcement action against “several” companies for potential breaches of the Online Safety Act, the Technology Secretary has told LBC.
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Peter Kyle revealed that the regulator is investing a number of possible breaches since the new laws came into action last month.
It comes as new children’s safety codes from Ofcom are published today – which will come in over the summer.
They will force firms to block kids from being able to see harmful content, and put in place age checks to make sure they can’t access it.
And they will also be forced to set up a ‘safe search’ for children to stop them finding suicide content, or material on eating disorders or self-harm.
Melanie Dawes on 'No Mercy' ban
Earlier this month LBC highlighted the case of a rape and violence simulator game, No Mercy which was eventually taken down from a major gaming platform - following similar measures taken by Canada and Australia.\
Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes commended LBC this morning for highlighting the game, telling Nick Ferrari: “I think the company has taken down that game which is the right course of action in this case.”
The regulator said two weeks ago that they are looking at one suicide website – which they’ve declined to name.
If they’ve found to have broken the strict new laws, they can impose fines of up to £18million of 10 per cent of worldwide revenue, or seek a court order to block access to them.
Read more: Ofcom cracks down on mobile network loophole used to intercept text messages
In an interview with LBC Mr Kyle also:
- Said tech firms would have to use addictive algorithms in a healthier way
- Put firms on notice he was ‘watching’ and vowed to go further with more laws
- Vowed new rules would be a huge ‘step forward’ to making the online world safer for kids
- Insisted we should ‘never’ accept young kids being able to see harmful content
- Promised to close down a loophole which sees games without chat functions avoid new laws
Ofcom Chief Dame Melanie Dawes speaks to Nick Ferrari on Online Safety Day
Mr Kyle told LBC he was “very confident” the regulator would use their new powers, and praised them for their speedy action going after rogue firms.
He said: “Ofcom wasted no time in taking action. They've already started enforcement action against several companies. This is the kind of thing that I want to see.
“There is no point in Ofcom having these powers if they are not used, if children are being subject to harmful content.
“I can already see the signs of those powers being used where they have them. And that's something I congratulate Ofcom for.
“I expect that action to be extended into the future because we know that not every company is adhering to the law at the moment. I am very confident that we will take action against harmful activity.”
Mr Kyle also promised to close a loophole in the new laws, which means that where games aren’t using chat functions or social media, they aren’t covered in the same way.
Hundreds of games similar to No Mercy are still online on streaming services.
Mr Kyle admitted that “some of the games don't use social media as part of their gaming process” and the harms may be different.
He promised: “It might well be they fall to another regulator. But my department is looking very carefully at this and we will make sure that if there is harmful content, particularly of the kind of real violent activity which you've uncovered in the past and clearly are uncovering now, we want to make sure that that kind of activity is tackled by whichever regulator needs to do so.
“It's always been the case that extreme violent activity needs to be tackled and also gains do need to go through various regulatory processes themselves.
“So we need to make sure that the government is joined up on this.”
And he insisted he was “already considering what comes next” in terms of more laws – after critics urged him to go even further with a clampdown on hate online.
He warned tech firms: “Believe me, I'll be watching very, very closely, because I do believe we can get to the point where young people will never be exposed to this material.”
He added: “We live in an age where we're now sending people up into space as tourists. We live in an age where we are solving diseases that people never thought would be possible. We're living in a remarkable age where artificial intelligence is now helping us to understand things that we as individuals never thought possible before.
“So don't tell me that it's not possible to prevent young people from seeing harmful content when they go online, illegal and sometimes criminal content when they go online. I don't believe that is inevitable. “And to eradicate it once and for all and permanently is something that I am striving for, and this government is striving for on behalf of every parent in this country.”
