Ofcom Call for Evidence: First Phase of Online Safety Regulation - Which? response

Which? welcomes the opportunity to provide evidence to Ofcom to inform its plans for the implementation of the Online Safety Bill when it becomes law. The Government has stated its ambition for the UK to be the safest place in the world to be online. Yet, the UK has been described as the scam capital of the world and UK consumers are being targeted by fraudsters from across the globe. The Government’s ambition is a good one, but there is along way to go to achieve it.

Which? and a number of victims, campaigners, organisations and MPs campaigned successfully for fraudulent paid-for advertising to be included in the scope of the Bill. Ofcom must ensure these provisions are properly implemented, monitored and enforced, so that consumers are protected from the financial, psychological and associated time impacts of being a victim of fraud. Which? would also like to highlight its findings on the easy availability of illegal weapons on online marketplaces.

Three key areas we want to highlight are:

• The scale and impact of online fraud as fraudsters are allowed to go unchallenged until after they have reached consumers and successfully defrauded victims. The breadth of case studies provide an insight into the devastating harm done to consumers.
• The need for effective due diligence checks to prevent fraudsters from using online services. By introducing effective checks on the identity and history of those wishing to place online adverts, platforms can protect consumers from encountering fraud.
• The opportunity for the better use of data on the indicators of potential fraud. Platforms approach to tackling online fraud should include a focus on key indicators in content and metadata that indicate the presence of fraud. Requiring platforms to share this data can also support a more systematic approach to prevent fraudsters from simultaneous attacks on consumers via multiple platforms and is a necessary part of preventing individuals from encountering fraudulent content on any service.

Our response focuses on the questions where Which? has evidence that we believe can add value to Ofcom’s implementation of regulation in this area. This includes evidence on the scale of online fraud, processes to effectively tackle that fraud, and the need for transparency reporting to monitor the effectiveness.