Ofcom Children's Codes

Why It Matters

Explicitly requires detection and removal of suicide/self-harm content with specific AI chatbot guidance. Any companion chatbot accessible to UK children must implement crisis detection and content filtering. Suicide and self-harm designated as primary priority content requiring most stringent protections.

Who Must Comply

Safety Provisions

• Suicide and self-harm content designated as primary priority harmful content
• Detection technology required for suicide/self-harm content
• Recommender systems must exclude suicide/self-harm content from children's feeds
• Content moderation systems must ensure swift action when identifying suicide/self-harm content
• Real-time reporting of livestreams showing imminent harm
• Human moderators required when livestreaming is active
• AI chatbots enabling user content sharing are regulated as user-to-user services

Compliance & Enforcement

Primary Source