Elust consists of text accompanied by one cover image per edition. The accompanying images are sometimes artistic nudes or partial nudes but are not gratuitously sexual and not created for the sole purpose of sexual arousal.

See page 32 https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/consultations/category-1-10-weeks/statement-protecting-children-from-harms-online/main-document/childrens-register-of-risks.pdf?v=401302#page=32

for a full definition of pornography according to ofcom.

2.2 For the purposes of the Online Safety Act 2023 (the Act), pornographic content specifically

excludes any content which:

a) consists only of text, or

b) consists only of text accompanied by:

i) identifying content which consists only of text;

2. other identifying content which is not itself pornographic content

Elust does not contain any suicide content, self harm content, or eating disorder content. No abusive content, no content which incites hatred, no bullying content, no violent content, no harmful substances content, no dangerous stunts and challenges content. No body stigma content. No depression content.

I have read https://www.ofcom.org.uk/link/6e7708779c1648f49c71268e93a94e38.aspx and I don't believe Elust contains any non-designated content.

children’s access assessment

Question 1 of 7
Is your service any of these types?
Select all that apply.

☐ Social media service
Services which connect users and enable them to build communities around common interests or connections.

☐ Messaging service
Services that are typically centred around allowing users to send messages that can only be viewed or read by a specific recipient or group of people.

☐ Gaming service
Services that allow users to interact within partially or fully simulated virtual environments.

☐ Pornography service
Services whose principal purpose is the hosting or dissemination of pornographic content and who host user-generated pornographic content.

☐ Discussion forum or chat room service
Services which allow users to send or post messages that can be read by the public or an open group of people.

☐ Video-sharing service
Services that allow users to upload and share videos with the public.

Elust is none of the above. The user generated content linked to is not pornographic. It's all text based. Some of it has accompanying images but none of those images are primarily intended for sexual arousal. The images are sometimes artistic nudes or partial nudes but nothing extreme or inappropriate.

Users can send me links. I then consider whether those links are suitable for Elust.

If anything is in any way resembling the types of content Ofcom guidelines define as harmful, I won't include it. I have never included content of types Ofcom considers harmful in the past and will not in the future.

Question 2 asks Does your service include any of these user identification functionalities?

No.

Elust has no user profiles.

Users cannot display identifying information through a user profile that can be viewed by others, such as images, usernames or age.

There are no anonymous user profiles either.

Elust is just a list of links to blog posts on websites owned by adults. The name of the website is next to each link. It would be impossible for a child to buy a domain name and hosting so it's reasonable to assume all of those websites are owned by adults.

Elust has no networking functionality. There's no way to follow or subscribe to other users. Nobody can form groups or send group messages.

Question 4 asks about re-posting.

Elust does encourage people who have a link included in a monthly edition of Elust to re-post that edition on their own blogs. However, as I mentioned before, Elust itself is text based and accompanied by non pornographic images. As are the websites in the links doing the re-posts. So this falls outside Ofcom guidelines.

Regarding question 5, Elust has no search function and no functionality for users to create their own tags. I tag each edition with the website names of the sites that have links included in that addition. As I said, all of those sites are owned by adults, text based and not porn.

Re question 6, Elust does not use content recommender systems.

Question 7 asks about features designed to enhance user engagement. Elust does not have affirmation-based functionalities (for example, ability to react to or comment on content), user connections, infinite scrolling, auto-play features, notifications, or alerts.

The only thing Ellust does to enhance engagement is recommend re-posting the edition on your own blog but as I keep saying, all those blogs are adult owned, text based and not pornographic.

I have done my best to follow the proposed four step process.

I have read the Children's Register of Risks.

I have tried my best to read the relevant parts of the Online Safety Act.

Elust had 775 visitors in the last 28 days. 133 of those visitors were from The United Kingdom.

As far as I can tell from Ofcom guidelines the OSA does not set a specific percentage or numeric threshold (e.g. 5%, 10%) for what constitutes a “significant number” of UK child users.

I estimate that approximately 0% of the 133 UK users of Elust in the last month were children. Elust itself is not designed to be appealing to children. Neither are any of the sites in the links. On the contrary Elust and all linked sites within are designed specifically for adults.

Protection of children duties

Regarding the protection of children duties, the record-keeping duties set out in the Act (section 23 and 34) require you, as a service provider, to:

• keep written records of your children’s risk assessments
• keep written records of the measures taken as described in the Protection of Children Code of Practice to comply with a relevant duty
• keep a written record of any alternative measure taken, where you have not taken a measure recommended under the Protection of Children Code of Practice (based on the outcome of your children’s risk assessment)

Full guidance on the record-keeping duties, including the additional duties for categorised services, can be found in Ofcom’s Record-Keeping and Review Guidance.

As well as keeping a record, you are responsible for completing a suitable and sufficient children’s risk assessment in line with your duties under the Act. Ofcom’s Children’s Risk Assessment Guidance provides full details on what to do.

You can sign up for online safety updates or make an enquiry via Ofcom’s website. For further support, you may wish to seek specialist or legal advice.

U2U service Children’s Risk Profile and risk factors

1. Is your service any of these types?
   Tick all that apply.

   	Social media service
   	Messaging service
   	Gaming service
   	Pornography service
   	Discussion forum or chat room service
   	Video-sharing service
   x	None of the above

2. Does your service include any of these user identification functionalities?
   Tick all that apply.

   	User profiles
   	Anonymous user profiles or users without accounts
   x	None of the above

3. Does your service include any of these user networking functionalities?
   Tick all that apply.

   	Users can connect with other users
   	Users can form closed groups or send group messages
   x	None of the above

4. Does your service include any of these user communication functionalities?
   Tick all that apply.

	Livestreaming
	Direct messaging
	Commenting on content
	Posting images or videos
	Posting or sending location information
x	Re-posting or forwarding content
	None of the above

5. Does your service include any of the following functionalities that allow users to find or encounter content? Tick all that apply.
   

   	Searching for user-generated content
   	Content tagging
   x	None of the above

6. Does your service use content recommender systems?

No

7. Does your service have functionalities and other features that increase user engagement?

No

(U2U) Non-designated content identified for assessment

Search service Children’s Risk Profile and risk factors

1. Is your service any of the following types? neither
   Tick one option.

   	General search service (including downstream general search service)
   	Vertical search service

2. Does your service have any of the following functionalities?
   Tick all that apply.

	Provide users with search predictions or suggestions
	Allow users to search for photographs, videos or visual images
x	None of the above

(Search) Non-designated content identified for assessment

Step 2: U2U and Search - Assess the risk of harm to children

Activities and outcomes:

• separately assess the likelihood and impact of children encountering the content harmful to children you have identified at Step 1 for assessment on your service, using all relevant evidence.

As part of this process, you need to:

• Consider the different ways in which the service is used, including ways which are unintended;
• identify whether there are any additional characteristics or functionalities of the service’s design or operation, not in the Children’s Risk Profiles, which could increase the risk to children. This includes functionalities that present higher levels of risk such as recommender systems, or those that enable adults to search and/or contact children, predictive search functionalities, and features and functionalities which affect how much children use the service;
• consider the effectiveness of any existing control measures which could impact the level of risk of harm to children;
• consult the Risk Level Table to assign a risk level for each of the four kinds of primary priority content, each of the eight kinds of priority content, and any kind(s) of non-designated content you have identified for assessment. This risk level should reflect risk as it exists on the service at the time of assessment, having had regard to the efficacy of any existing control measures you have in place;
• conclude the assessment of all the risks relating to content harmful to children, including the design and use of the service, to mitigate in Step 3.

What to include in your record:

• where applicable, a list of any additional characteristics (including user base, business models, functionalities, governance, and systems and processes) considered alongside the risk factors identified in Ofcom’s Children’s Risk Profiles. This should include how you have identified and assessed those functionalities that present higher levels of risk such as recommender systems, functionalities which enable adults to search for and/or contact children and predictive search functionalities, as well as features and functionalities which affect how much children use the service;
• if you have considered the role of any existing controls already in operation on your service at the time of this children’s risk assessment, you should record what these controls are, what risks they are intended to mitigate and how they do this, and how the consideration of the existing controls has impacted the risk level you have assigned to a kind of content harmful to children;
• a list of the evidence and summary of the reasoning that has informed the assessment of likelihood and impact for each kind of primary priority content, each kind of priority content, and any kind(s) non-designated content that you have identified for assessment. This should include relevant evidence about the design and use of the service, and how different age groups of children have been considered;
• the level of risk (negligible, high, medium, low) assigned to each of the four kinds of primary priority content, each of the eight kinds of priority content, and for any kind(s) of non-designated content that you have identified for assessment on the service, and an evidence-based explanation of the decision. This level should reflect risk as it exists on the service at the time of assessment.

Ofcom resources for this step:

• Step 2 Children’s Risk Assessment Guidance and Risk Profiles: (Remember to check the risk level table to support your judgement)
• Children’s Register of Risks
• Guidance on Content Harmful to Children
• Step 2 of the ‘Check how to comply with the protection of children rules’ tool

Risk levels for content harmful to children

You need to record the risk level you’ve assigned to each of the four kinds of primary priority content, each of the eight kinds of priority content, and any kind(s) of non-designated you have identified for assessment and the evidence and considerations for each.

This is a guidance page to illustrate how to make your records for each particular kind of content harmful to children.

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Pornographic content

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Suicide content

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Self-harm content

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Eating disorder content

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Abusive content

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Content which incites hatred

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Bullying content

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Violent content (provides instructions for)

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Violent content (humans)

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Violent content (animals or fictional creatures)

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Harmful substances content

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Dangerous stunts and challenges content

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Body stigma content

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Depression content

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Additional kinds of non-designated content (copy and paste form fields as necessary for each kind)

If you have not identified any further kinds of non-designated content for assessment, you do not need to complete this section.

Kind of non-designated content:

Risk level:

Risk factors considered:

Additional characteristics considered:

Existing controls considered:

Evidence:

Step 3: U2U and Search - Decide measures, implement and record

There are separate record-keeping duties for any measures taken to comply with a relevant duty as recommended in the Protection of Children Code of Practice, and where the service provider chooses to take or use alternative measures to comply with a relevant duty.

Activities and outcomes

• consult Ofcom's Protection of Children Codes of Practice, check which measures are recommended for your service, and decide whether to implement applicable measures to reduce the risk of harm to children, or use alternative measures
• identify any additional measures that may be appropriate for your service
• implement all relevant measures
• record the outcomes of your children’s risk assessment

What to include in your records of measures recommended in Ofcom’s Protection of Children Code of Practice

• a written record of each measure that is taken or is in use as described in the Protection of Children Code of Practice, which:

1. provides a description of the measure;
2. identifies the relevant Code of Practice; and
3. gives the date that the measure takes effect.

To help you record this information, for each of the measures Ofcom recommends, we set out which duty it relates to in the protection of children Code of Practice and in the recommended measures section of our ‘Check how to comply with the protection of children rules’ tool.

What to include in your records of alternative measures taken to comply with a relevant duty

Where you choose to adopt alternative measures, a written record must include:

1. the measures in the Protection of Children Code of Practice that have been recommended based on the outcome of the children’s risk assessment but have not been taken or are not in use;
2. the alternative measures that have been taken or are in use and the date they take effect;
3. how those alternative measures amount to compliance with the duty in question; and
4. how you have complied with the duty to have particular regard to the importance of protecting UK users’ (and interested persons if you are a search service) right to freedom of expression and privacy

Where you choose to adopt any alternative measures to comply with the children’s safety duties, the written record must also state whether the alternative measures have been taken or are in use in every area listed in table 2 of the Record-keeping and Review guidance (this is also listed in Step 3 of the ‘Check how to comply with the protection of children rules’ tool).

Ofcom resources for this step:

• Record-Keeping and Review Guidance
• Protection of Children Code of Practice for user-to-user services
• Protection of Children Code of Practice for search services
• Step 3 Children’s Risk Assessment Guidance and Risk Profiles
• Step 3 of the ‘Check how to comply with the protection of children rules’ tool

Protection of Children Codes of Practice measures (copy and paste form fields as necessary for each measure)

Description:

Status:

Date measure takes/took effect

Relevant Code of Practice:

Relevant duties:

Date record made:

Alternative measures (copy and paste form fields as necessary for each measure)

If you choose to implement all relevant measures recommended from the Code of Practice to comply with your duties, you do not need to complete this section.

Recommended measure

Alternative measure:

Relevant duties:

Demonstrate how you have had regard for section 49(5) (freedom of expression and privacy):

Area of the service the alternative measure applies to:

Date measure takes effect:

[Date the measure came/will come into effect on your service.]

Date record made:

Step 4: U2U and Search - Report, review, and update children’s risk assessments

The Act requires that you regularly review your compliance with each of the children’s safety duties. You must also review your compliance as soon as reasonably practicable after making any significant change to any aspect of the design or operation of your service. You should consult Ofcom’s Record-keeping and Review guidance for more information about this duty.

Activities and outcomes

• report on the children’s risk assessment and measures through appropriate governance and accountability channels

• providers of user-to-user services to notify Ofcom of the kinds and incidence of any non-designated content you have identified as present on your service through your children’s risk assessment

• providers of Category 1 and 2A services to supply Ofcom with a copy of their children’s risk assessment record
• providers of Category 1 and 2A services to summarise the findings of their most recent children’s risk assessment in their terms of service/a publicly available statement (as applicable)
• monitor the effectiveness of safety measures at reducing the risk of harm to users
• monitor developing risks and the level of risk exposure after appropriate measures are implemented (also known as residual risk)
• review and/or update the children’s risk assessment when appropriate, including before making any significant change to any aspect of the service’s design or operation

What to include in your record:

• information regarding how you keep the children's risk assessment up to date (for example, a written policy), and a named person responsible who has been appointed for this process
• confirmation that the findings of the children’s risk assessment have been reported and recorded through appropriate governance and accountability channels

Ofcom resources for this step:

• Step 4 Children’s Risk Assessment Guidance and Children’s Risk Profiles
• Step 4 of the ‘Check how to comply with the protection of children rules’ tool
• Record-keeping and Review guidance
• Protection of Children Code of Practice for user-to-user services (governance section)
• Protection of Children Code of Practice for search services (governance section)

U2U only: Notify Ofcom of non-designated content

Where you have identified presence of non-designated content on your service (where you have assigned a risk level of low, medium, or high, but not negligible), list the kinds and the incidence of those kinds. Consult Part 3: ‘Non-designated content’ of the Children’s Risk Assessment Guidance for more information.

You should notify Ofcom using the following email address: [email protected]

Report activity

Date of next children’s risk assessment:

Confirmation findings of the children’s risk assessment have been reported, and recorded:

Yes / No

Date the findings of the children’s risk assessment were reported, and recorded:

[Keep a copy of each record of your children’s risk assessment and the date on which it was reported. Update this field for each record.]

Information on how you take appropriate steps to keep the children’s risk assessment up to date (for example, a written policy):