Digital Online Safety
and Competition
The Working Group examines how to promote a safe, open and competitive digital environment in the age of major technology platforms and AI-driven markets. It considers the implementation of the Online Safety Act alongside wider issues relating to online harms, digital identity, age assurance and verification, systems interoperability, and the rights of citizens to engage safely online. The Group also explores the balance between anonymity, accountability and digital empowerment, including the “right to verify” and protections for users, particularly children and young people.
Alongside online safety, the Group reviews the effectiveness of digital competition and regulatory frameworks in addressing market concentration and anti-competitive behaviour in digital markets. This includes examining enforcement gaps, interim measures, access to evidence, compliance incentives, mergers, product bundling, interoperability, and the evolving role of the Digital Markets Unit (DMU). The Group engages with policymakers, regulators, industry and civil society to develop recommendations that support innovation, consumer protection, fair competition and economic freedom in the digital economy.
Digital Safety Tech Group Meeting Public Summary 11-02-2025 – Implementing the Online Safety Act
Ofcom plans for Implementing the Online Safety Act were outlined in a presentation provided. The Online Safety Act Network aims to keep all those with an interest in the successful implementation of the Online Safety Act engaged and connected. There could be a balance between pursuit of aims to reduce cost of implementation for providers of online services and to reduce harm to vulnerable groups such as children. For introduction of mandatory measures, Ofcom would need more information to provide the necessary evidence.
The Hidden Politics of AI in the
by Professor Alan Brown
Research Director
AI technologies embed political values and power dynamics that reshape organizations, requiring leaders to recognize how these tools redistribute authority and encode specific worldviews.
As someone who has spent considerable time at the intersection of technology and organizational change, my work over recent years has become dominated by two interconnected themes: The Technology of Business and the Business of Technology. The first examines how digital tools have transformed from optional enhancements to the essential infrastructure of modern organizations, while the second explores the unprecedented power wielded by the handful of companies that create and control our digital landscape.
Our Advisory Group
Lord Clement Jones
Advisor
Dr. Louise Bennett
Advisory Board
Malcolm Harbour, CBE
Advisory Board
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