UK Must Close Online Safety Act Regulatory Gap, Kids' Rights Group Says
The U.K. Online Safety Act (OSA) has made progress in the two years since it took effect, but broad gaps remain in child-protection provisions, said 5Rights Foundation, an international children's rights advocacy group.
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Most of the law's key duties are now in force, including those relating to children's online safety, 5Rights noted in a post last week. The Office of Communications' (Ofcom) protection of children code has taken effect, a major milestone for the OSA, it said.
The code lays a foundation for a safer digital world for children, but 5Rights' child ambassadors say work is needed concerning endless scrolling, autoplay and constant notifications that keep youth glued to their screens, the group said.
After "sustained" efforts by the Children's Campaign, which 5Rights led, Ofcom floated measures to address risks posed by livestreaming, the group noted. Ofcom has also signaled that future codes may require tech companies to consider age-appropriate design, which is a "key expectation of the Act and a cornerstone of our advocacy work."
"Nevertheless, important gaps remain," 5Rights said. As online services implement the OSA, age-assurance measures must not only be effective but also preserve privacy, it said. In addition, companies must be held accountable for complying with their legal duties, including the GDPR, to give the public confidence that the regulatory system protects the safety and privacy of kids and adults.
Online services must be safer by design, and OSA compliance must be judged by whether the services actually reduce harm to children and prevent illegal online activity, 5Rights argued. If they're not assessed by that standard, there's a risk that the "safe harbor" that companies receive for following the law will become a box-ticking exercise rather than driving meaningful change.
The organization called for urgent action to close the remaining gaps and for the government, Ofcom and the ICO to work together to "confront the tech sector's ongoing disregard for children's rights" and misuse of kids' data. The OSA "must be enforced with conviction."