Common Questions

What new powers is Ofcom getting over data centres?: Under the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which was at Report Stage in March 2026, Ofcom would be designated as a joint oversight body with DSIT for data centres classified as essential services, with cybersecurity reporting and enforcement obligations.Source: UK Parliament / CS&R Bill
What does Ofcom regulate?: Ofcom regulates UK broadcasting, telecommunications, postal services and online safety under the Online Safety Act 2023. Under the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill it would also oversee data centres as essential services.
Does Ofcom have rules about AI-generated content on TV?: Ofcom's Broadcasting Code covers accuracy, impartiality, and harm prevention across licensed services. AI-generated content in news programming falls within that framework, and Ofcom ran scoping consultations on synthetic media in its 2024-2025 work programme.Source: Ofcom
What is Ofcom's role in regulating AI in broadcasting?: Ofcom enforces the Broadcasting Code for all UK-licensed broadcasters, meaning any AI-assisted editorial workflow that affects news accuracy, impartiality, or harm standards requires compliance. The regulator has consulted on synthetic media but had not issued binding AI-specific broadcasting rules as of May 2026.Source: Ofcom

Background

Ofcom is the UK's primary broadcast and communications regulator and is engaged in active consultations on generative AI's impact on broadcast content standards. Its Broadcasting Code governs accuracy, impartiality, and harm prevention across licensed services, and AI-generated content in news programming falls within that framework without requiring specific new legislation. The regulator's 2024-2025 work programme included scoping exercises on synthetic media and AI-generated audio-visual content in broadcasting.

For the SMART STORIES open-standard consortium, which includes ITV, ITN, and Sky among its nine founding members, Ofcom's existing broadcast licensing regime is the relevant compliance backdrop. Any AI-assisted newsroom workflow that affects how news is gathered, verified, or presented would need to satisfy the Broadcasting Code's impartiality requirements, making Ofcom's rule-making posture material to the consortium's ultimate deployment scope.

Ofcom's broader digital regulatory expansion (via the Online Safety Act 2023 and proposed Cyber Security and Resilience Bill powers) puts it in an increasingly central position as the UK's converged communications regulator. How it extends broadcast content standards to AI-generated material, and whether it seeks specific powers for synthetic media labelling under the AI trajectory, will shape UK broadcast industry compliance costs through 2027.

How the World Sees Them

EU / NIS2

The UK's approach mirrors NIS2's co-regulatory model with sector-specific competent authorities; Ofcom's designation is functionally analogous to national competent authority designations across EU member states.

UK Government

Designating Ofcom as co-regulator under the CS&R Bill leverages existing sector expertise in telecoms and online platforms to extend cyber oversight to data-centre operators without a new body.

Data-centre operators

Ofcom's entry into cybersecurity oversight adds a second regulator alongside DSIT and the ICO; compliance teams must plan for converging reporting lines.