Ofcom wants depression and body-stigma content classed as priority harms to children

Ofcom has recommended that content promoting depression or stigmatising body types be treated as priority harms to children, in its first statutory report on content harmful to children published on Thursday.

The report, the first under section 63 of the Online Safety Act 2023, advises moving “body stigma content” and “depression content” — currently classed as non-designated content — into the Act’s “priority content” category, based on its review of how often children encounter it and how severely it affects them.

If the Secretary of State takes the recommendation forward, the protections would be enshrined in the Act. HotMinute reported that providers would then have to assess the risk the content poses to children and take proactive steps to protect them from it. The recommendation remains subject to government approval.

Ofcom recommended no other changes to the primary priority or priority categories of content harmful to children.

The report’s headline finding is that most children in the UK encountered at least one piece of harmful content online in a four-week period, and that there was no significant change in the proportion doing so over the first nine months after the children’s safety duties came into force in July 2025. Ofcom called the finding concerning.

The report lands as the government prepares a social media ban for under-16s alongside additional protections for under-18s. Ofcom said it would shortly publish a rapid assessment of what highly effective age assurance could look like for determining whether someone is 16 or over.