Online Safety Act March 2025

[TheOstrich]

Kaz, Mick - any of this affect the VV forum?

I believe there are some sort of exemptions for small forums, but not necessarily from everything ....

[Kaz]

I don't know anything about it Ossie. Will get Mick to look into it.

[Kaz]

It seems we might well come under this new act, as VV does have user-to-user communication, ie PM. We might well be required to submit risk assessments to Ofcom. There is an official form, we have started the process, Mick is on it.

We might just have to disable the PM function but that's only if we absolutely have to.

Watch this space.

[Kaz]

Oh and thank you for bringing this to my attention, it gives us time to comply before the deadline!

[TheOstrich]

You're welcome, Kaz.

I was picking up an increasing amount of angst out there on other (admittedly football-related) forums about the new measures, and there is evidence that some forums have actually decided to close down rather than go through the compliance measures.

And some of these affected forums are way, way bigger than VV, for example there is reported to be a thread on the Sunderland FC Supporters Club forum about it with over 3,000 posts from aggrieved members.

I did have a look at the Ofcom website explaining the new rules, but TBH I couldn't follow half of what was said! So tell Mick "Good Luck!" from me

To put it into some sort of context, however, one admin comment I have seen is:

We already do a lot of what the Bill demands... the main difference is we now have to be seen to be doing it.

[Kaz]

Mick is fairly confident we can navigate it. Fingers crossed

.

We already do a lot of what the Bill demands... the main difference is we now have to be seen to be doing it.

That's us, pretty much IMO

[TheOstrich]

Good to know!

[Kaz]

The compliance form is well under way - Mick seems to think there won’t be any issues as we’re so small, mostly older (no kids) and many of us know one another in person. It’s a very heavy-handed law really, but they’re not interested in sites like ours.

[Kaz]

Mick is doing a risk assessment, as well as completing the forms for Ofcom, just in case we get queried. Our risk profile is negligible.

[Suff]

Compliance is the real issue. I had to send my boss a risk and control matrix and explain it to him so he could understand what the compliance team want of him.

The problem with compliance is if they demand controls on the risks. Because then they want evidence you have operated the controls and that's a pain in the nuts. Granted SOx and GDPR for a business are more of a problem, but in the end the structure and evidence remains the same except we are left floundering around without the support that £Millions buys from consultancies.