UK regulator Ofcom issues update on Online Safety Act investigations

Ofcom has today provided an update on their enforcement activity under the Online Safety Act.

Since March 2025, when the first of the online safety Codes became enforceable, Ofcom have launched five enforcement programmes and opened 21 investigations into the providers of 69 sites and apps. Today, they are issuing updates on 11 of those investigations.

Earlier this year, Ofcom launched an enforcement programme to assess the safety measures being taken by file-sharing services, which are frequently exploited by offenders to distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM) at scale. The spread of this material causes devastating harm to victims and remains one of the gravest online safety challenges.

Through this programme, Ofcom identified serious compliance concerns with two services – 1Fichier.com and Gofile.io. Both providers engaged constructively with Ofcom and committed to strengthening their protections.

As a result, they have now deployed perceptual hash-matching technology – a powerful automated tool that can detect and swiftly remove CSAM before it spreads further. This is one of the core safety measures set out in the illegal harms Codes, and its adoption marks a significant step forward in reducing the availability of this egregious material online.

Consequently, Ofcom will not be taking further action against either service at this time. But their work does not stop here: they will continue to hold services to account and ensure that robust safeguards are in place to protect children and prevent offenders from exploiting these platforms.

Ofcom has fined 4chan £20,000 for failing to respond to legal information requests about its illegal harms risk assessment and worldwide revenue, and will impose an additional £100 daily penalty until compliance. Ofcom has also issued provisional decisions against Im.ge and AVS Group Ltd for similar failures. AVS is additionally accused of not implementing effective age checks to protect children from pornography. Ofcom has expanded its investigation into Youngtek Solutions Ltd to examine whether it also failed to respond adequately to an information request related to age-assurance measures.

Some online services have responded to Ofcom’s enforcement actions by blocking UK access (“geoblocking”) instead of implementing required safety measures. This has reduced the risk of UK users encountering illegal or harmful content. Four file-sharing sites—Krakenfiles, Nippydrive, Nippyshare, and Nippyspace—have geoblocked UK users, leading Ofcom to close their cases, though monitoring continues. Investigations into Nippybox and Yolobit remain ongoing. An online suicide forum has also geoblocked UK access and removed messages encouraging users to bypass the block; Ofcom continues to monitor it. Ofcom emphasises that services must not promote circumvention of UK restrictions and warns that non-compliance with the Online Safety Act will trigger strict enforcement.