The U.K.'s communication services' regulator Ofcom has set a March 31 deadline for online services providers to submit illegal harms risk assessments, failing which they may face enforcement action. The British regulator Ofcom brought the country's online safety regulation into force in December last year after publishing its first codes of

Under the Online Safety Act, firms have to assess and mitigate the risks of a wide range of offences occurring on their platform, including terrorism, hate crime, child sexual exploitation and financial fraud.

Ofcom has sent formal requests to several prominent social media platforms and 'smaller but risky' websites asking them to supply illegal harms risk assessments by 31 March.