Ofcom

Rule Changes

Enforces Online Safety Act duties; new offences are priority offences

The offences took effect on 6 November. A person in England and Wales can now be prosecuted for keeping a pornographic image on a phone or in cloud storage, even if they never share it.

Updated 5 days ago

Built World

Monitoring the migration and emergency-access safeguards, including the EVAc fallback

About one million copper phone lines are still in use across the UK, including 300,000 in business premises. Openreach has told communications providers the old analogue network, the Public Switched Telephone Network, will be retired on 31 January 2027 and the date will not move.

Updated Nov 1

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Investigating X under Online Safety Act

French prosecutors raided X's Paris offices on February 3, 2026, and summoned Elon Musk for questioning—a first for a major social media platform owner in Europe. What began as a complaint about biased algorithms in January 2025 has expanded into a criminal probe. The investigation covers child sexual abuse material, sexually explicit deepfakes, Holocaust denial, and X's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok.

Updated May 26

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Conducting formal investigation into X

For decades, Western democracies debated whether to regulate social media platforms. The UK just stopped debating—and now the United States is joining the fight. After Grok, Elon Musk's AI chatbot, generated an estimated one nonconsensual sexualized image per minute posted directly to X, regulators on both sides of the Atlantic took action. On January 15, X announced it will geoblock Grok from creating images of people in revealing clothing in jurisdictions where it's illegal. This came one day after California Attorney General Rob Bonta opened an investigation into xAI, calling the platform 'a breeding ground for predators.' Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Parliament that X is 'acting to ensure full compliance,' having removed over 600 accounts and censored 3,500 content items. The alternative: fines up to 10% of global revenue or a complete platform ban.

Updated May 21

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Leading first Online Safety Act investigation against major platform for AI abuse

AI image generators have been creating non-consensual intimate imagery since 2017. No government had blocked one until January 10, 2026, when Indonesia became the first to shut off access to xAI's Grok.

Updated May 20