The Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act

OSRAA establishes a new agency called the Online Safety Commission (OSC), which will provide timely and accessible relief for victims of online harm, without victims having to go to court.

Upon receiving a report of online harm from a victim, the OSC will be empowered to issue directions to address the online harm, such as directions to disable access to the harmful content or restrict the perpetrator’s online account. These directions may be issued to end-users who post the harmful content (described as "Communicators"), those who run online pages, groups or communities (described as "Administrators") or online platforms where the harmful content is hosted (described as "Platforms").

For more information, please visit the OSC's website here.

OSRAA gives you a clear legal basis to hold those responsible for online harm accountable. It introduces statutory torts — legal duties owed to you by three key players in the online ecosystem: the people who post harmful content (Communicators), those who run online pages, groups or communities (Administrators), and online platforms where harmful content is posted (Platforms). When any of these parties fail in their duties to you, OSRAA gives you the right to take them to court and seek redress.

This matters because it removes the uncertainty that victims have historically faced when considering legal action. You no longer have to piece together a legal case from scratch — OSRAA sets out clearly what duties exist, who owes them, and what happens when they are breached. The court can award you compensatory damages for the harm you have suffered, and grant injunctions to stop the harmful activity from continuing.

OSRAA's message is clear: everyone in the online space — users, Administrators, and Platforms alike — has a responsibility to act with care. When any player does not, you have the right to hold them to account.

For more information on the statutory torts under OSRAA, please click here.

One of the most frustrating aspects of online harm is that perpetrators often hide behind a veil of anonymity. OSRAA addresses this directly by giving you a means to identify the person who caused you harm — because accountability should not be able to hide behind a screen.

The OSC has the power to require online platforms to provide information that may help identify users suspected of committing online harms, such as their names or verified contact details. These powers are focused specifically on suspected perpetrators, so you can be assured that these powers are used with care and purpose.

Once the OSC has obtained this information, it can disclose it to you or your authorised representative. This means that even if you do not know who is behind the harm, you are not without recourse — OSRAA makes sure that anonymity is not a shield for those who cause harm, and that you have what you need to bring a claim or protect yourself.

You can find out more about submitting an application to the OSC for the disclosure of a perpetrator's identity information here.