Formal recognition of VAWG and

of sexism and misogyny that shape gender-based violence. 4.

Across the workshops, it was recognised that VAWG and gender-based violence should be recognised in the OSB and that women and girls should be named as a group particularly at risk of online abuse and harms – as an intensified risk that the research cited in this report makes clear. Collectively, we also call for protected and combined characteristics to be recognised in the OSB and in all future legislation relating to digital health, wellbeing and safety. This must happen alongside raising awareness and education, but specifically in relation to the wider cultural and societal impact of sexism and misogyny that effects mental health, leading to withdrawal and silencing that has wider societal impact on relationships, communities and women’s public visibility and voice. Support services need more funding, and a nuanced discussion of human and/or AI moderation needed to happen as the OSB is implemented. Finally, the VAWG Code of Practice needs to be adopted as part of the execution of the OSB. This requires ongoing support, development, and implementation across sectors, especially to take account of VAWG happening across online, digital and technological platforms.

5.

The OSB is just the beginning. While it usefully places responsibility within the tech industry, rather than victims, survivors, and vulnerable adults, meaningful and measurable change is going to need a multi-sector approach, emerging from policy and legislation. This will need to incorporate technology design (e.g. a safety-by-design approach), support for services, education, funding for academic research on mitigating harm, training and engagement in dialogue with the police and Crown Prosecution Service, public awareness campaigning, and the capacity and scope for Ofcom to draw on expertise and regulation from other sectors. Online harms need to be recognised in the future as interconnected and multi-issue, and the approach to these kinds of harms needs to acknowledge the digital and technological, including the relationship between hardware and software, algorithms and platforms, online and offline. Future directions should be responsive to technological and societal change to really make a difference to people’s everyday lives