The United Kingdom’s communications regulator Ofcom has come out with strengthened online safety protections requiring dating, messaging and social media platforms to do more to protect users from cyberflashing and illegal self-harm content, as part of its implementation of the Online Safety Act.

Under the updated measures, companies whose services are at risk of hosting cyberflashing will be expected to make it easier for users to report unsolicited sexual images, ensure content moderation teams are adequately trained and resourced, swiftly remove illegal content once identified, and provide users with tools to block or mute others.

Ofcom said cyberflashing became a priority offence under the Online Safety Act in January 2026, requiring technology firms to assess and mitigate the risk of such offences occurring on their platforms.

The regulator said the strengthened protections build on a measure announced last month calling for automated detection technology to reduce the spread of illegal intimate images online, alongside existing guidance aimed at improving online safety for women and girls.

British comms regulator said cyberflashing disproportionately affects women, citing evidence that women are nearly three times more likely than men to experience it.

According to research referenced by the regulator, 36 percent of women under 40 have received an unsolicited sexual image from someone who was not their partner, while one in 12 women received such an image in the past year.

The watchdog said tackling online harms that disproportionately affect women and girls remains one of its highest priorities.

The regulator also expanded its existing online safety framework to cover illegal self-harm content after the UK Government granted priority status to offences relating to intentionally encouraging or assisting serious self-harm.

In addition to applying reporting mechanisms, moderation requirements and user blocking tools to such content, Ofcom said platforms should test their algorithms to assess whether design changes increase the risk of recommending illegal self-harm material, provide crisis prevention information in response to self-harm-related searches, allow users to report predictive search suggestions that may direct people to priority illegal content, ensure reported suggestions are not recommended to users, and enable users to disable comments.

Ofcom said it is particularly concerned about the threat posed by so-called “Com groups” — online criminal networks that engage in a range of serious offences, including grooming victims, often children, into harming themselves.

The regulator said its updated guidance addresses how such groups exploit direct and group messaging features to groom and manipulate users. To strengthen child safety, it said services offering direct messaging that face grooming risks should adopt safety-by-default settings ensuring children can only be contacted by people they are already connected to.