Ofcom has published a Statement setting out its final decisions regarding the implementation of the fees and penalties regime of the Online Safety Act 2023, following a consultation last year (which we commented upon here).

The Statement is a thorough document, engaging with feedback from the consultation and setting out Ofcom’s final decisions on a range matters, including the following:

Qualifying Worldwide Revenue (QWR)

• QWR will be defined as the total revenue of a provider referable to the provision of the following parts of regulated services anywhere in the world:
  1. The parts on which regulated user-generated content may be encountered;
  2. The parts on which search content may be encountered; and
  3. The parts on which regulated provider pornographic content may be encountered.

• Where revenue arising in connection with relevant parts of regulated services cannot be separately identified from revenue in connection with other parts of those regulated services (or non-regulated services), providers should apportion revenues using a ‘just and reasonable’ approach.
• Providers should aggregate revenue from the relevant parts of all their regulated services for the purpose of calculating QWR.

Thresholds

• It is recommended that the QWR threshold, at or above which providers of regulated services will be required to pay fees, should be set at £250 million. Ultimately, the Secretary of State will set the QWR threshold, and Ofcom states that any figure between £200 and £500 million would be appropriate.
• Subject to the Secretary of State’s approval, providers of regulated services whose UK referable revenue is less than £10 million will be exempt from fees-related duties.

The Statement also includes more detail on matters such as joint and several liability, the Statement of Charging Principles, and notification requirements.

To read the Statement in full, click here.