A few months ago, we let you know the huge news that the government had at long last included women and girls in the Online Safety Bill. Today, the law has finally passed and the Online Safety Act has come into force!

The new regulator, Ofcom, will now create guidance for tech companies on protecting women and girls. This is a historic moment for women’s rights, and it wouldn’t have happened without all of your support - together we have achieved this huge win.

The new law will now also require Ofcom to take action to educate the public about harmful content. This is a welcome step, as public awareness and understanding of this issue is central to ending and preventing gender-based violence - online and offline.

There have also been changes to the new law to respond to the ways that online harms disproportionately affect women and girls who face discrimination and abuse due to their race, ethnicity, sexuality and other characteristics. We will be watching keenly to see whether this has any impact on the specific harms of misogynoir (racism and sexism against Black women), and other intersecting forms of discrimination.*

Glitch and EVAW have worked tirelessly to convince the government to include women and girls in this landmark piece of legislation, which will regulate tech companies for the first time. While we celebrate our success, this does not mean that we support every element of the Act. But it is a landmark moment that recognises the impact of the gender-based violence that affects our daily lives. 

While we're pleased to see these changes in the Act, we will continue to work hard to ensure that the guidance is as strong as possible by collaborating with Ofcom. We’ve fought hard over the last few years to ensure your voices were heard by policy makers. Now we need strong implementation of this law to ensure there is a marked impact on our daily lives.

Please stay in touch as we keep a close eye on making sure the guidance delivers what women and girls need! Click on these links to sign up to EVAW’s newsletter and Glitch’s newsletter, and follow us on social media @EVAWuk and @GlitchUK_

Thank you so much for all your ongoing support.

Andrea and Seyi

*For more on digital misogynoir, do check out Glitch’s new report - and the recording of our digital launch. Glitch has also outlined how various changes to the Act will affect the experiences of Black women and girls in a three part blog series.