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Glossary The Safety Net

Click the letters below to find a defined term.

This glossary explains some of the key terminology used in the OSA and related legislation and regulatory documents.

 

  • CAA

    See “Children’s Access Assessment”.

  • Children’s Access Assessment

    An assessment carried out by a service provider to determine: (1) if it is possible for children to access the service; and (2) whether there are significant numbers of children using the service or if the service is likely to attract a significant number of children.

  • Children’s Risk Assessment

    An assessment carried out by a service provider to determine: (i) the risk of children encountering online harms on the service; (ii) the potential impact on children of encountering these harms; and (iii) appropriate safety measures to be implemented to mitigate the risk of these harms.

  • CRA

    See “Children’s Risk Assessment”.

  • Digital Services Act

    An EU regulation adopted in 2022 that addresses illegal content, transparent advertising and disinformation.


    The Digital Services Act can be found here.

  • Horizontal / general search service

    A general search engine that scans the entire web for results and displays them.

  • Non-Designated Content

    Content, which is not Primary Priority or Priority Content, of a kind which presents a material risk of significant harm to an appreciable number of children in the United Kingdom. Potential examples provided by Ofcom include ‘body image content’ and ‘depressive content’.

     

    Defined in Section 60 of the OSA.

  • Ofcom

    The Office of Communications, the UK regulator for online safety.

  • Online Safety Act / OSA

    The Online Safety Act 2023.

     

    Access the full text here.

  • Primary Priority Content

    Content considered under the OSA to present the highest risk of harm to children, covering pornographic content, content relating to suicide and self harm, and eating disorder content.

     

    Defined in Section 61 of the OSA.

  • Priority Content

    Content considered under the OSA to present a high risk of harm to children, covering abuse and hate content which targets religion, sex, race, sexual orientation, disability, or gender reassignment. It also covers content which relates to or encourages bullying, violence, or harmful substances.

     

    Defined in Section 62 of the OSA.

  • Qualifying Worldwide Revenue

    Not yet defined for the purposes of the OSA, but Ofcom has proposed that this will mean the total, global revenue of a provider, across its entire group of companies, arising in connection with the provision of a regulated service, during a defined, qualifying period (likely to be annual).

  • QWR

    See “Qualifying Worldwide Revenue”.

  • Regulated pornographic content

    Content of such a nature that it is reasonable to assume that it was produced solely or principally for the purpose of sexual arousal, excluding content that is solely text-based.

     

    This definition is set out in Section 236 of the OSA.

  • Regulated / “in-scope” services

    Services to which the OSA applies, which includes user-to-user services, search services, and services that publish non-user-generated, regulated pornographic content.

    Defined in Section 4 of the OSA.

  • Search services

    A service or functionality within a service that enables a person to search websites or databases. Such services can include both general search engines that scan the entire web for results and search services that help users to find specific products or services (e.g., airline comparison websites for flights).

     

    Defined in Section 3 of the OSA.

  • U2U services

    See “user-to-user services”.

  • UGC

    User generated content.

  • User-to-user services

    An internet service that allows users to engage with each other’s posts or other content, including social media sites, video and messaging services (including chatrooms), online marketplaces, gaming and dating sites.

     

    Defined in Section 3 of the OSA.

  • Vertical search service

    A search service that helps users to find specific products or services (e.g., airline comparison websites for flights).

  • Very Large Online Platforms

    An EU definition under the Digital Services Act – online platforms and search engines with over 45 million users in the EU.