Ofcom has recently published new guidance on how the Online Safety Act (the “OSA”) applies to the video games industry (link here) (the “Guidance”).

Whilst not revelatory, the Guidance: 

• provides interesting additional context for gaming businesses on how the OSA applies to online video games;
• highlights key online safety risks and compliance measures arising under the OSA; and
• more importantly, suggests that gaming is firmly on the radar of Ofcom from an enforcement perspective.

How the Online Safety Act Applies

The Guidance explains that the OSA applies to certain types of online services, including those where users can interact with each other, or create, share or upload content.

Applied to online video games, if users can interact with other users by creating or manipulating player profiles, avatars, objects and environments or by using voice and text chat, they will be likely to fall within the scope of the OSA. This will include games which enable livestreaming or use matchmaking systems to connect users, such as populating a lobby and/or assigning players to teams.

The call out to the manipulation of objects and environments by Ofcom is helpful because it is not as obvious an example as, say, voice or text chat, but clarifies that if you can arrange the environment in such a way that you are sending messages to other users then this can be in scope.

The Guidance also explains that whilst the OSA covers user-generated content, it does not cover content published by the service provider (except for online pornography). This means that offline gameplay, original or additional content developed and published by the studio, or the enforcement of PEGI age ratings will all be out of scope of the OSA.

There remains the question of whether the gaming service “has links with the United Kingdom”, but for online games in particular this will be an easier threshold to meet where the game is capable of being played in the UK.

Online Safety Risks in Gaming

Online gaming service providers obviously have to assess the risk of all 17 types of priority illegal content under the OSA. From Ofcom’s perspective, much of this work may have already been done and it refers to its own assessments as well as studies by the NSPCC: 

• Significant proportions of 13 to 17 year-olds report being highly concerned about trolling (47%), one-off abusive behaviour or threats (45%), and intentional harassment or ‘griefing’ (37%) while playing games online (according to Ofcom’s Online Experiences Tracker); and
• Online games are the third most likely place for ‘nasty or hurtful’ behaviour occurring amongst children aged 8 to 17 (according to Ofcom’s Media Use and Attitudes Report).

The Guidance also refers to evidence from the NSPCC, Catch-22 and the Children’s Society showing that:

• voice and text chat services in online multiplayer games are used by grooming perpetrators to approach children; and
• child victims/survivors of criminal exploitation have been recruited into trafficking through online video games.

The risks will vary significantly, though, based on the type of game and the features it offers: a mobile game with limited communication features will offer very different risks to a virtual reality game with multiple forms of verbal and non-verbal communications available.

As a starting point, Ofcom consider that the most likely forms of illegal content in online video games are:

• terrorism;
• child sexual exploitation and abuse;
• hate offences; and
• offences relating to harassment, stalking, threats and abuse.

How to Comply

As mentioned above, the Guidance does not change the obligations on companies in the video games industry and companies in scope should already be far along in their OSA compliance journey. However, if any of the above resonate with services you provide, be sure to:

1. check if the OSA applies to you;
2. carry out illegal content assessments and put protections in place;
3. complete and action a children’s access assessment;
4. comply with the record-keeping and review duties for the above; and/or
5. reach out to us and we can give you a hand!