A new report published by Internet Matters, reveals that the Online Safety Act (OSA) in the UK, although bringing visibility of online safety tools, does not seem to be living up to expectations of providing the much-needed “meaningful protection from harm.”
In their report titled The Online Safety Act: Are Children Safer Online?, Internet Matters has highlighted a dual image of success and continued vulnerability. Age verification checks, reporting tools, warnings, and parental controls are being observed on social networking sites, games, and other online platforms. Approximately 68% of parents and children claim to have witnessed these changes
Families embraced many of these changes. Kids especially appreciated the blocking and reporting options, as 90% of the children found these features favorable. Limits on interactions with strangers and restricted access to certain features, including livestreaming capabilities, were also very well received.
However, the research found that harmful content remains widespread online despite the legislation. Nearly half (49%) of children said they had experienced harm online recently, including exposure to violent material, racist or homophobic content, explicit material and content promoting unrealistic body standards.
One example repeatedly raised during focus groups was children unexpectedly encountering footage relating to the assassination of political commentator Charlie Kirk through algorithmically recommended social media feeds.
Age checks ‘easy to bypass’
The report also highlights significant weaknesses in the Act’s reliance on age verification. While 53% of children said they had recently been asked to verify their age online, almost half (46%) believed age checks were easy to bypass.
The children employed a variety of methods to circumvent the process, including inputting fake dates of birth, resorting to the use of parents’ identification cards, employing facial filters, using virtual private networks, or using AI-based images. In one instance, a parent mentioned that their child had used an eyebrow pencil to sketch a moustache to look older.
Even more alarmingly, almost a third (32%) of kids confessed to cheating the age restrictions on their own, and one in four parents reported helping their children cheat or allowing it knowingly.
Lacking stronger enforcement
The findings suggest that parents still feel that much of the burden for online safety falls on them rather than platforms or regulators. The report argues that without “highly effective age assurance” and stronger enforcement, children will continue accessing inappropriate content and features with relative ease.
The research also identifies what many families now see as the biggest gap in the legislation: excessive screen time and persuasive platform design. Parents and children alike described struggling with algorithm-driven feeds, infinite scrolling and autoplay systems that encourage prolonged use.
According to the report, 59% of children said that they were staying up late using their gadgets, whereas 45% said that they had stopped exercising or playing sports as they preferred to use the Internet.
AI-generated material
Another significant problem comes from AI-generated material. Children noted a rising number of highly realistic AI-generated pictures and videos being posted on social media sites. In addition, some were worried that generative AI could be abused, particularly for the creation of explicit deepfakes featuring children.
While 39% of parents and 42% of children believe the online world has become safer recently, the report concludes that the Online Safety Act has not yet produced the “step change” needed to significantly improve children’s digital wellbeing.
Instead, Internet Matters argues that stronger enforcement, safety-by-design principles, stricter age assurance systems and more robust regulation of emerging technologies (particularly AI-driven systems) will be required if online protections are to keep pace with how children actually use digital platforms today.
Information Security Buzz News Editor
Kirsten Doyle has been in the technology journalism and editing space for nearly 24 years, during which time she has developed a great love for all aspects of technology, as well as words themselves. Her experience spans B2B tech, with a lot of focus on cybersecurity, cloud, enterprise, digital transformation, and data centre. Her specialties are in news, thought leadership, features, white papers, and PR writing, and she is an experienced editor for both print and online publications.
The opinions expressed in this post belong to the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Information Security Buzz.