On May 1, 2024, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) and the UK regulator for communications and online safety, Ofcom, issued a joint statement regarding their collaboration on the regulation of online services where online safety and data protection intersect. This statement builds on the joint statement published in 2022. The latest statement outlines several areas of collaboration between the ICO and Ofcom.
In particular, the ICO and Ofcom will:
- Identify and continuously monitor the emergence of issues that are of common interest because of their “thematic and substantive relevance” to online safety and data protection – these are referred to as “Collaboration Themes,” and include default settings and geolocation settings for child users, as well as age assurance;
- Pursue “more effective joint regulatory collaboration” by identifying companies or services that are subject to both the online safety and data protection regimes, and are of current regulatory interest to both the ICO and Ofcom; and
- Disclosure of information between themselves, including in relation to particular companies or services.
The ICO and Ofcom also will periodically evaluate the effectiveness of the methods outlined in the joint statement to identify any opportunities for improvement.