Ofcom (Office of Communications)

Ways to reach them

Complain about online services, websites or apps · Complaint route

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Verified · 2026-09-22

Public complaints about online services including AI chatbots falling within OSA scope.

VERIFIED — the route is published on Ofcom's contact page and on its AI chatbots guidance page.

General advice and complaints line · Complaint route

0300 123 3333 or 020 7981 3040 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm); PO Box 1285, Warrington WA1 9GL

Verified · 2026-09-22

General complaints.

VERIFIED on https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/contact-us/. Welsh 0300 123 2023; BSL video relay and text relay available.

Ofcom consultations · Public consultation

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements

Unverified

Ofcom consults extensively on OSA codes of practice and guidance; responses are published.

UNVERIFIED as fetched, though Ofcom's consultation programme is extensively documented. Confirm the current URL from the site navigation.

Licensing mailboxes · Email address

spectrum.licensing@ofcom.org.uk / broadcast.licensing@ofcom.org.uk

Verification expired · 2026-09-22

This route is retained as reference only. Its verification is missing, more than 180 days old, or the contact window is not currently open; do not rely on it until it is re-checked.

Licensing only — not online safety.

VERIFIED on the contact page. Ofcom publishes no general online-safety email.

Homepage · Homepage

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/ai-chatbots-and-online-regulation-what-you-need-to-know

Unchecked

Submission page · Complaint route

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

Open contact route · 2026-09-22

Who may use it: public

Evidence that this route accepts contact · 2026-09-22

Complaints about phone, broadband and postal services; TV, radio and on-demand programmes; wireless interference; something you have seen on an online service, website or app; and premium rate services.

Contact the service provider first, then report via Ofcom's online complaints portal at ofcom.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Homepage · Homepage

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

Verification expired

Evidence that this route accepts contact

What it does

Independent regulator for communications and, under the Online Safety Act 2023, for user-to-user and search services. Ofcom has CONFIRMED that AI chatbots fall within the OSA where the service meets the Act's service definitions — a chatbot is out of scope only if it allows interaction with the chatbot alone and no other users, does not search multiple sites or databases when responding, AND cannot generate pornographic content. Powers: can require information, investigate, impose fines up to £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, and seek business disruption measures (payment and access restrictions) against non-compliant services. Senior managers can face criminal liability for certain failures.

Its powers

fine

Honest assessment

Ofcom is the UK's most powerful AI-adjacent regulator by a wide margin — it can fine 10% of global turnover and cut a service off from payment providers. Its OSA consultations are the single highest-leverage UK input route on AI: they run for months, every response is read and summarised, and Ofcom publishes detailed statements addressing arguments. Individual complaints matter less as individual remedies (Ofcom does not resolve your personal dispute) and more as evidence of systemic failure that supports an investigation. Ofcom is explicit about its limits: 'We can only take action on online harms covered by the Act, using the powers we have been granted' — so frontier and catastrophic risk is OUT OF SCOPE. This is content-harm regulation applied to generative AI, not model-level safety regulation.

How to file

Contact the service provider first, then report via Ofcom's online complaints portal at ofcom.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Format

Online form.

Timing

Rolling.

What happens after

Reports feed Ofcom's monitoring and evidence base for Online Safety Act supervision and enforcement against systemic failures.

What it accepts

What it does not accept

Ofcom cannot investigate individual cases or mandate removal of specific content. It will not resolve your dispute with a platform.

Operated by

Ofcom

Notes

Ofcom's chatbot scoping is contested by practitioners — several categories of generative AI service sit ambiguously inside or outside the OSA.