Ofcom consultation on online safety - additional safety measures

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has responded to Ofcom’s consultation on user-to-user interaction under the Online Safety Act (OSA).

The IET commends the progress made already by Ofcom whilst implementing the OSA, while reiterating the urgent need for immersive technologies to be treated as a distinct area of regulatory focus due to the unique risks they pose to children and vulnerable users.

Drawing on the expertise of our members, we outline the challenges of age verification, the prevalence of unsupervised minors in virtual reality (VR) spaces, and the embodied nature of harm in these environments. We call for targeted action to ensure that immersive platforms are safe, transparent, and accountable, and that regulation continues to evolve in step with technological advancement and virtual reality.

Despite its prevalence, virtual reality is still not explicitly addressed and remains a grey area, even though it was defined clearly as content in the OSA.