The UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA), introduces new obligations for online service providers, including online marketplaces and related ancillary services, particularly those offering user-to-user (U2U) or search functionalities, and may impact how products are sold and marketed online.
The OSA requires businesses to:
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- to take responsibility for preventing and removing illegal content from their services.
- to include provisions in their terms of service to show how they are protecting users and have “illegal content” reporting systems in place.
- to prevent and remove fraudulent advertising.
- to include features within their services that allow users to control and manage any harmful content.
Not fulfilling OSA duties can lead to penalties of up to £18 million or 10% of a business's qualifying worldwide annual revenue, whichever is greater, or two years in prison.
We encourage you to stay informed about these developments and their implications for product safety.