WLFHS Forum Closed

The Online Safety Act 2023 (the Act) is a new set of laws which aims to protect people from certain harms online. It’s stated aim is to put new duties on social media companies and search services, making them more responsible for their users’ safety on their platforms. However, the wording of the law is so broad – it targets any platform run in or from the UK that allows user to user communication – that the WLFHS forum is clearly in scope. That means that to remain “legal” we would have to:

• Complete an “illegal content” risk assessment. That would entail checking if any content posted on the forum falls in to one of 17 categories listed in the act. These are listed here (PDF, 84 pages).
• Keep records of what is posted on the forum, and what has been checked for “harms”.
• Assess any risks to children from using the forum, setting appropriate age restrictions. Note OFCOM guidance is that organizations can no longer say their service is for users above a certain age in their terms of service and do nothing to prevent younger children accessing it. We would be expected to have “age assurance” technologies in place, and these will have a cost (adminstratively and financially) to the Society.

All under the threat of up to an £18 million fine should our compliance be found wanting. Given the low usage of the forum, the time and effort that would be needed to remain compliant – keeping in mind that the information OFCOM are publishing on this is very much a moving target – it simply isn’t worth continuing to run the forum.

Should members have a Family History question that they want assistance with, they are reminded that we have an mailbox which is checked regularly by the volunteers, and questions which might have been posted in the forum can be sent here instead.