It has been a year since the Online Safety Act became law – yet we’re still waiting for action
3 min read
A year since the groundbreaking Online Safety Act became law, the risks children face online seem to be worse than ever. From AI child abuse images to sophisticated ‘sextortion’ gangs and addictive algorithms, the pace of technology, and those who seek to exploit it, has overtaken the shift towards safety.
It is frustrating that after 12 months the Online Safety Act’s powers are yet to be implemented, and the regulator Ofcom is still putting in place the building blocks that will hold tech companies to account.
Despite this, I am convinced the legislation remains the best foundation on which to build the fundamentals of child protection into the online world while securing its benefits that young people have every right to enjoy.
Achieving legally enforceable legislation with powerful sanctions was a watershed moment, particularly in the face of incredibly well-resourced companies with a clear and obvious preference in policing themselves. This regulation has the potential to embed children’s safety and wellbeing into the heart of online platforms and hardwire the interests of children into the future decision making of tech companies.
The bereaved families, survivors of online abuse, and the young people who fought so hard for so long to get regulation onto the statute book now need to see the rules enacted and enforced as soon as possible. But the rules already outlined by the regulator must be the floor, not the ceiling, and will need strengthening if they are to transform the online world in the way that those who shaped the Online Safety Act envisaged.
Right now, Josh MacAlister’s Private Members’ Bill has helpfully refuelled a sense of urgency in ensuring children and young people are safe online. His proposed measures to ensure younger children can’t access social media that is unsuitable for them and to hand Ofcom greater powers to enforce safe spaces for young people are welcome. Supporting teachers and students to be free of the distraction of smartphones in the classroom would also be a sensible step.
Ofcom should be supported to act strongly when regulations begin to come into force
But we can’t lose sight of what would lead to the biggest changes for our children and young people’s safety online: holding tech companies to account for building children’s safety into the design of their services, so that young people can have safe and healthy experiences every time they go online. That was the ambition at the heart of the Online Safety Act.
Ensuring the voices of children and young people are fully heard and embedded into the regulatory regime would help this to happen. Young people know better than anyone about the benefits they enjoy and the risks they face in the online world, and we need to learn from them.
The government has committed to reviewing the legislation and could take steps to establish a dedicated body to listen to and advocate for children and young people’s safety in the online world. They could also strengthen the legislation to give Ofcom more legal certainty to tackle child sexual abuse in private messages, enforce minimum age limits and ensure that tech companies have to act on all the harm they find, not just that proscribed by Ofcom.
But while it is only right that government, Ofcom and civil society wrangle with the practicalities of regulation to make it as robust and effective as possible, this can’t come at the expense of enacting the measures and powers already in legislation as soon as possible.
And Ofcom should be supported to act strongly when regulations begin to come into force in the coming months to help drive the changes that are needed.
We cannot afford to wait for another year to go by before giving children the long overdue safety they deserve when online.
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