Calls for change come after the new law was introduce on Friday, July 25
The UK government has today responded to calls for an urgent law change (Image: PA)
The UK government has responded to a petition demanding urgent change to a law introduced last week, aimed at protecting children and teenagers from viewing harmful content online.
A petition to repeal the Online Safety Act has received more than 350,000 signatures, however the UK government has today responded saying they have “no plans” to revoke the Act.
Changes to the Online Safety Act came into effect on Friday, July 25, and introduced additional safety measures to prevent children accessing harmful content such as pornography or material that encourages suicide.
Enforced by regulator Ofcom, the changes require online platforms which host harmful content displaying self-harm, suicide, eating disorders or pornography to have age checks in place – either by using facial age estimation or credit card checks. These sites will also be required to ensure algorithms do not work to harm children by, for example, pushing such content towards them when online.
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Following the enforcement of these regulations last week, a petition to repeal the Online Safety Act has currently received over 350,000 signatures, with this number continually growing.
The petition has suggested the Online Safety Act to be “far broader and restrictive than is necessary in a free society” and called on government to work towards producing “proportionate legislation”.
Changes to the Online Safety Act look at introducing age verification to sites displaying adult and harmful content(Image: Mirrorpix)
However the government has today issued a statement saying they have “no plans” to repeal the new regulations and are continuing to “implement the Act as quickly and effectively as possible”.
Responding to the petition, the government wrote: “The Government is working with Ofcom to ensure that online in-scope services are subject to robust but proportionate regulation through the effective implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023.”
They added: “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.”
Following the enforcement of the Online Safety Act Reform UK announced they would look to scrap the act if they came to power, calling it a “dystopian” infringement on free speech.
While the Act intends to reduce harm, former Reform UK party chairman Zia Yusuf said it did “absolutely nothing to protect children” but worked to “suppress freedom of speech” and “force social media companies to censor anti-government speech”.
Addressing a press conference at Reform’s headquarters in Westminster, Mr Yusuf said: “We will repeal this Act as one of the first things a Reform government does.”
Former Reform UK party chairman, Zia Yusuf, said a Reform government would scrap the Online Safety Act (Image: Lucy North/PA Wire)
Yet, speaking alongside Donald Trump during the US president’s visit to Scotland, Sir Keir Starmer has refuted claims that the Act curbs freedom of speech and instead defended it as being about “child protection”.
He said: “We’re not censoring anyone. We’ve got some measures which are there to protect children, in particular, from sites like suicide sites.”
He added: “I personally feel very strongly that we should protect our young teenagers, and that’s what it usually is, from things like suicide sites. I don’t see that as a free speech issue, I see that as child protection.”
The petition to repeal the Online Safety Act has currently received over 350,000 signatures and is expected to be considered in Parliament for debate.
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