The implementation of a new law to protect the online safety of children in the UK has caught criticism from digital rights activist groups, politicians, free-speech campaigners, tech companies, content creators, digital rights advocacy groups, and others. The Online Safety Act (OSA) came into effect on July 25th. The legislation aims to protect children from accessing harmful content on the internet. Why problematic?
Safe internet for kids?
However, the act also poses potential privacy risks. Certain provisions of the act require companies behind websites in the UK to prevent users under 18 from accessing dangerous content such as pornography and content related to eating disorders, self-harm, or worse- suicide. The act also mandates companies to give minors age-appropriate access to other types of material concerning abusive or hateful, and bullying content.
Tech companies' role
In compliance with the OSA provisions, platforms have enforced age authentication steps to verify the ages of users on their sites or apps. These include platforms like X, Discord, Bluesky, and Reddit; porn besides such as YouPorn and Pornhub, and music streaming services like Spotify, which also require users to provide face scans to view explicit content.
As a result, VPN companies have experienced a major surge in VPN subscriptions in the UK over the past few weeks. Proton VPN reported a 1800% hike in UK daily sign-ups, according to the BBC.
As the UK is one of the first democratic countries after Australia to enforce such strict content regulations on tech companies, it has garnered widespread criticism, becoming a watched test case, and might impact online safety regulation in other countries such as India.
About OSA rules
To make the UK the ‘safest place’ in the world to be online, the OSA Act was signed into law in 2023. It includes provisions that impose a burden on social media platforms to remove illegal content as well as implement transparency and accountability measures. But the British government website claims that the strictest provisions in the OSA are aimed a promoting online safety of under-18 children.
The provisions apply to companies that exist even outside the UK. Companies had until July 24, 2025, to assess if their websites were likely to be accessed by children and complete their evaluation of the harm to children.
