- The British Government says it has “no plans to abolish the online security law” despite growing concerns
- The laws are designed to make the Internet a safer place, especially for children and vulnerable adults
- Mandatory Age Verification Control has been enforced since July 25, triggering concerns about web users’ digital rights
The British government says it has no plans to abolish the online security law as resistance to it grows in the wake of the introduction of online age verification control.
A petition that calls on the government to scrape the law has collected over 450,000 signatures in just a few days. While the law was law in 2023, the downturn has been caused by the recent introduction of age verification checks for users of many sites.
As of July 25, the British have to review robust mandatory age control to access only adult sites and any potentially harmful content online.
While the government says the laws are intended to protect both children and adults using the Internet, critics claim that they have serious consequences for people’s privacy, online security, freedom of speech and access to information.
The British government has responded to the petition with nearly 400,000 signatures to cancel the Online Security Act. They have no plans to cancel the online security law pic.twitter.com/m6uevrfwg1July 28, 2025
The British Parliament should consider a debate on any petition that receives more than 100,000 signatures. However, the British Department of Science, Innovation and Technology said to respond to the petition: “The government has no plans to cancel the online Security Act and work closely with Ofcom to complete the action as quickly and efficiently as possible to enable British users to benefit from its protection.”
The added: “The government will continue to work with OFCOM against the full implementation of the Online Security Act 2023, including monitoring of proportionate implementation.”
What’s behind the backlash of age verification?
The Online Security Act is aiming to make the Internet a safer place, especially for children. But many proponents of privacy and security experts fear that in particular age verification measures may end up doing more harm than good.
You must now scan your face, a credit card or an identity document if you want to access a specific content on X, Reddit or Bluesky in England, and the same goes if you only want to play a new over-18 video game, find a new match on a dating app or watch a video reserved for adults. These platforms must collaborate with third -party age verification services to implement controls.
Leakies, abuse and data abuse are just some of the risks associated with the mass data collection that age verification control involves. Some commentators also fear that age -blocking determined content considered harmful can lead to restrictions on freedom of expression and access to information.
“While the intention of protecting children is understandable, the execution raises serious concerns about privacy, censorship and functional, whether it even works,” Yegor Sak, co-founder and CEO of Canada-based Windscribe VPN told Techradar.
Such concerns have led thousands of people to turn to a virtual private network (VPN) as a way to protect their sensitive information. Proton VPN, for example, recorded an hour’s increase of over 1,400% starting at midnight on July 25.
If you are concerned about sharing your data online to comply with age verification control, you can use a VPN to keep your data secure. You will find some reliable options in our best free VPN guide.
However, free VPNs sometimes lack important security features, so for a more robust option, look at our best VPN guide. Our top recommendation is NordVPN, and right now Techradar’s readers can get hold of an exclusive appointment when they sign up for one of its two-year plans.
