Ofcom launches investigation into online suicide forum

An online suicide forum is under investigation by Ofcom for failing to comply with the Online Safety Act (OSA).

The probe marks the first investigation by the communications watchdog under the new digital safety laws.

The act, which came into force last month, requires platforms to tackle illegal content or risk being fined up to £18m or 10 per cent of their global revenue. In “the most serious cases”, platforms could be blocked in the UK.

Ofcom has not named the forum, which is linked to at least 50 deaths and has tens of thousands of members including children, according to a BBC report.

The watchdog will look into whether the site failed to mitigate the risk of its service being used to commit or facilitate priority criminal offence – including encouraging suicide – and had appropriate measures in place to detect and take down illegal content.

Ofcom has said it made “several attempts” to engage with the forum and had issued a legally binding request on its illegal harms risk assessment. However, the site provided a “limited response” and “unsatisfactory information” to the request, sparking the investigation on its compliance with its duties under the OSA.

The act lists 130 ‘priority offences’ online providers must tackle by implementing appropriate systems to manage such content. These offences fall under 17 categories, including terrorism, drugs and psychoactive substance and intimate image abuse.