Ofcom unable to take further legal action against suicide forum

Ofcom said it is unable to take further legal action against a pro-suicide forum which campaigners say has been linked to over 130 UK deaths.

The regulator said, external the site had blocked access for the “vast majority” of UK users, and it had “no further legal routes available” under the Online Safety Act.

But it accepted people would still be able to access the forum by using a VPN, which hides your location online.

Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, said the decision to take no further legal action would “result in more lost lives” and that announcing it on the day a new prime minister was named showed “an utter lack of moral courage”.

In response, an Ofcom spokesperson said it had made the decision a “matter of days ago” following “months of work to exhaust all possible legal routes”.

They said bereaved families were informed of the decision this morning after being contacted last week.

“In that context, we do not consider it appropriate to delay the announcement further to accommodate today’s political developments,” they said.

Meanwhile, Ofcom enforcement director Suzanne Cater said the regulator had used its powers “to the fullest extent possible”.

“We’ll continue to monitor the forum closely to check the geoblock remains in place,” she said.

The geoblock means people based in the UK are unable to access the site, unless they mask their location through a VPN or similar means.

Ofcom said it was working with the government to explore whether its enforcement powers should be strengthened.

In particular, this concerns its ability to get a website blocking order through the courts, which would legally mandate internet service providers in the UK to block the website.

The regulator says it has reached the limit of what it can legally do under the Online Safety Act because the forum has implemented the geoblock.

The BBC has approached the government for comment.