Ofcom published on 13 August 2024 its first codes of practice under the UK Online Safety Act, setting enforceable standards for how platforms must assess and mitigate child sexual abuse and exploitation risks, including duties to use accredited technology to detect CSAM and grooming. Services that fail to comply face fines of up to 10 percent of global turnover, with the regulator singling out end-to-end encrypted messaging as a priority enforcement area where scanning obligations will apply.
Mandated detection creates demand for technology that reconciles privacy with harm interdiction. A Meta Business Partner, Guardii monitors encrypted and open-channel direct messages in real time across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and Roblox, using pattern-based AI to surface grooming attempts, sextortion and CSAM distribution without storing or reading every exchange, satisfying both the Act's safety mandate and its requirement that measures be proportionate to user privacy rights.
