Online Safety Act: What went wrong?

9 months ago

The UK's Online Safety Act aims to prevent children from accessing harmful online content but faces significant implementation issues.
Adults must verify their age to access pornography, raising concerns about data privacy and security with thousands of sites storing personal data.
The Act is easily bypassed using VPNs, undermining its effectiveness in protecting children.
Regulators treat online safety as a technical issue rather than a cultural one, missing the mark on effective solutions.
Existing tools and parental controls can protect children, but lack of awareness and usage limits their impact.
The approach to online safety mirrors past mistakes in other areas, like drink driving, where cultural shifts were needed alongside regulation.
The Act exemplifies a broader misunderstanding of internet issues by policymakers, focusing on technical fixes over societal change.

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