The Government has said it has no plans to repeal the act, which came into force on Friday
Tom Burnett Content Editor
21:11, 28 Jul 2025
The new Online Safety Act came into force on Friday(Image: Mirrorpix)
More than 16,000 people across Greater Manchester have signed a petition calling for the Online Safety Act to be repealed, just days after it came into force.
The act came into force on Friday, July 25, and requires online platforms to take steps to prevent children accessing harmful content such as pornography or material that encourages suicide.
This includes introducing age verification for websites and ensuring algorithms do not work to harm children by, for example, pushing such content towards them when online.
But while some charities have urged the Government to go further, others have criticised the impact of the rules on freedom of speech because of ministers’ power to direct regulator Ofcom to modify its rules setting out how companies can comply with requirements to crack down on illegal or harmful content.
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A petition to Parliament, which can be viewed here, has amassed more than 300,000 signatures of people calling for the act to be repealed.
It states: “We believe that the scope of the Online Safety act is far broader and restrictive than is necessary in a free society.
“For instance, the definitions in Part 2 covers online hobby forums, which we think do not have the resource to comply with the act and so are shutting down instead.
“We think that Parliament should repeal the act and work towards producing proportionate legislation rather than risking clamping down on civil society talking about trains, football, video games or even hamsters because it can’t deal with individual bad faith actors.”
Amongst those signatories are more than 16,000 people living in constituencies across Greater Manchester.
Number of signatures on the petition by Greater Manchester constituency, as of 9pm on Monday, July 28:
Altrincham and Sale West: 496
Ashton-under-Lyne: 592
Blackley and Middleton South: 518
Bolton North East: 541
Bolton South and Walkden: 582
Bolton West: 505
Bury North: 561
Bury South: 551
Cheadle: 453
Hazel Grove: 564
Heywood and Middleton North: 574
Leigh and Atherton: 655
Makerfield: 557
Manchester Central: 1,082
Manchester Rusholme: 562
Manchester Withington: 548
Oldham East and Saddleworth: 468
Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton: 452
Rochdale: 467
Salford:1,050
Stalybridge and Hyde: 628
Stockport: 725
Wigan: 591
Wythenshawe and Sale East: 609
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Responding to the petition, a Government spokesperson said: “The Government has no plans to repeal the Online Safety Act, and is working closely with Ofcom to implement the Act as quickly and effectively as possible to enable UK users to benefit from its protections.
“Proportionality is a core principle of the Act and is in-built into its duties. As regulator for the online safety regime, Ofcom must consider the size and risk level of different types and kinds of services when recommending steps providers can take to comply with requirements. Duties in the Communications Act 2003 require Ofcom to act with proportionality and target action only where it is needed.
Some duties apply to all user-to-user and search services in scope of the Act. This includes risk assessments, including determining if children are likely to access the service and, if so, assessing the risks of harm to children. While many services carry low risks of harm, the risk assessment duties are key to ensuring that risky services of all sizes do not slip through the net of regulation.
“For example, the Government is very concerned about small platforms that host harmful content, such as forums dedicated to encouraging suicide or self-harm. Exempting small services from the Act would mean that services like these forums would not be subject to the Act’s enforcement powers. Even forums that might seem harmless carry potential risks, such as where adults come into contact with child users.”
The response added: “The Act’s aim is not to penalise small, low-risk services trying to comply in good faith. Ofcom – and the Government – recognise that many small services are dynamic small businesses supporting innovation and offer significant value to their communities. Ofcom will take a sensible approach to enforcement with smaller services that present low risk to UK users, only taking action where it is proportionate and appropriate, and will focus on cases where the risk and impact of harm is highest.