What the matters discussed in Part One of this post demonstrate above all is the complexity and difficulty of critiquing the OSA as a threat to perfectly legitimate forms of expression when such significant parts of the mainstream media, namely the Telegraph, Times, Sun, Express, Mail and GB News, along with pressure groups such as the Free Speech Union and powerful right-wing ‘think tanks’ (in actual fact, ‘free market’ lobbyists) such as the Adam Smith Institute and Policy Exchange have, in pursuit of their own political and ideological ends, repeatedly set it up as a straw man and attacked it from the perspective of what has come to be known as free speech fundamentalism. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Tag: Online Safety Act
In a recent article for the journal Porn Studies I raised doubts about whether children and young people watching porn online is apparently so harmful to them that the restrictive measures proposed by the Online Safety Act (OSA) are necessary, proportionate and compatible with the UK’s various human rights obligations. I also posed the question of whether these measures, and particularly the requirements for age-verification, are actually workable. Continue reading
2025 is set to be a busy year for providers of user-to-user (e.g. social media) and online search services in the UK. Continue reading
On 7 January 2025 Meta made sweeping changes to its policy on Community Standards – Hateful Conduct the (“Standards”). This article examines how these changes put marginalised groups at serious risk and how they, in the context of the Online Safety Act 2023 (“the Act”) are in breach of their duties to prevent and protect these users from harm. Continue reading
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