- The UK Parliament held a debate on the Online Safety Act (OSA)
- This comes after a petition challenging the law has gathered 500,000 signatures
- MPs mostly agreed that the OSA should not be repealed, suggesting stricter rules
After officially becoming law in October 2023, the Online Safety Act was back in the UK Parliament yesterday after a petition calling for its repeal gained over half a million signatures.
The petition argued that the law “is far broader and more restrictive than necessary in a free society.” However, most MPs suggested that instead of being repealed, the legislation should actually be strengthened.
The British have long been concerned about the online safety law’s potential to encourage online censorship and have repeatedly highlighted the negative impact mandatory age checks can have on privacy and security.
Although it did not lead to immediate changes, the debate provided an opportunity for MPs to challenge the government on the law’s implementation. Here are the key takeaways.
What MPs say about age verification
Most of the MPs who took part in yesterday’s discussion argued that the OSA is a crucial piece of legislation to protect children online. However, some MPs raised a few challenges around the implementation.
Specifically, lawmakers discussed free speech concerns and cited examples of political discourse being unnecessarily age-appropriate.
“What is or is not age restricted needs to be much clearer, more consistent and more proportionate,” said Iqbal Mohamed, independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley.
Some MPs also echoed the concerns of experts and citizens about the negative impact of age verification on privacy, with Victoria Collins, a Liberal Democrat MP, arguing that “age verification systems also pose a problem for data protection and privacy.”
But MPs seemed to agree that none of these challenges warranted a real discussion about the law’s future. Instead, the focus remained on fine-tuning how the law is implemented.
A particular area of focus was the use of VPN apps.
While many people have turned to the best VPN apps in droves to protect their privacy, lawmakers expressed concern that children could use these apps to evade surveillance. That’s why the British Lords proposed a ban on VPNs for children last week.
From the debate, it is clear that lawmakers will continue to monitor VPN use and have not ruled out introducing stricter rules against VPN providers in the coming year.
Encryption – not a major concern for MPs
Beyond age verification, digital rights advocates and technologists remain concerned about provisions that have yet to be fully implemented, warning that they could pose a significant risk to end-to-end encryption.
UK regulator Ofcom has already shared plans to expand file monitoring in 2026, expanding requirements to detect illegal material across multiple online services – regardless of whether they are encrypted.
Speaking to TechRadar ahead of the debate, Jemimah Steinfeld, managing director at the Index on Censorship, warned that end-to-end encryption could be compromised in the future. “These apps are a lifeline. Even setting aside the high price that dissidents would pay if they lost that privacy, the average person should have that as a natural right,” Steinfeld said.
Yesterday’s debate touched only briefly on this point, suggesting that MPs do not share the same concerns as experts. Labor MP for Milton Keynes Central, Emily Darlington, referred to “easy technological fixes” that allegedly avoid breaking encryption. Yet security researchers have repeatedly argued that such tools — similar to those proposed in the EU — would fundamentally undermine encrypted systems.
What’s next?
The recent debate did not mark a turning point for the Online Safety Act (OSA). Lawmakers have shown no intention of scrapping the legislation, nor do they appear willing to drop its most controversial provisions. Nevertheless, the case provided valuable insight into MPs’ current priorities.
The risks associated with algorithmic augmentation and generative AI appear to be the primary focus for lawmakers moving forward. However, as many MPs have acknowledged, there are still significant problems with the law’s current implementation. While the continued dialogue is a positive sign, words alone may not be sufficient to effect real change.
Callum Voge, director of government affairs and advocacy at the Internet Society, told TechRadar that the debate alone is unlikely to prompt a rethink. “This week’s debate will not be enough to reopen the controversial provisions alone,” Voge said. “There will need to be continued public pressure on these issues to ensure that concerns are truly heard and addressed.”
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