A SERIOUS RISK TO PRIVACY AND DATA SECURITY

The Online Safety Act is creating a serious risk to privacy and data security, causing the very real risk of online censorship and de-platforming – putting creators’ livelihoods and online personas at risk for no noticeable improvement in child safety.

UNWORKABLE TO IMPLEMENT 

Tech industry groups, progressive governments like the Government of Australia, and respected independent pressure groups like Liberty have all looked at the current age verification measures in horror. They too think there are far too many concerns around privacy invasion and security to make it even remotely workable.

FAILS TO IMPROVE CHILD SAFETY

There are many easy ways, like using VPNs, for people to access parts of the internet that the Online Safety Act is trying to censor. Age verification pushes kids into risky areas like the Dark Web, exposing them to potentially dangerous or criminal content. Age verification is a minor hurdle for kids to overcome but a clear example of state overreach for all adults.

PUTS THE POWER INTO HANDS OF BIG TECH

The Government have consistently missed a big worry: the Online Safety Act tightens the knot between Big Tech and the state. By nudging platforms to police the internet and giving oversight to an unelected regulator, it’s pulling some of the world’s biggest tech corporations under its wing.

HAS A FAR-REACHING NEGATIVE IMPACT

The Online Safety Act’s ripple effects are being felt beyond our community. Small business owners, using platforms like Instagram or Facebook as their digital shop front, are now being targeted and restricted because of the products they sell, damaging their main sources of income amid a living cost crisis.

A FREEZE ON OUR FREEDOM TO EXPRESS OURSELVES

LGBTQ+ figures and campaign groups are sounding the alarm over this law. They’re concerned that the Online Safety Act is laying down a legal runway for stamping out LGBTQ+ content, putting a freeze on our freedom to speak and express ourselves. This isn’t just about silencing voices; it’s about censoring vital info when young LGBTQ+ people often rely on the digital world to figure themselves out.

A GOLDEN TICKET FOR HATE GROUPS

The Online Safety Act opens the doors to hate groups using the law to put pressure on tech giants and others to effectively ban LGBTQ+ content. There is already a record of LGBTQ+ content being incorrectly flagged as harmful online. For example, LinkedIn pulling down a coming out post from a 16-year-old following complaints; and TikTok censoring depictions of two men kissing or holding hands. The Online Safety Act creates a legal obligation on companies to flag so-called ‘harmful content’ giving bigots a new way to attack our community.

ENDANGERS LGBTQ+ PEOPLE ON A GLOBAL SCALE

The so-called ‘spy clause’ of the Online Safety Act, Clause 122, is a double whammy—it not only puts UK LGBTQ+ people in the firing line, but lays down a legal and tech blueprint for mass surveillance. A setup that can and will be used as a pretext to persecute LGBTQ+ people in countries where their lives are already at risk.

UNDERMINING PRIVATE COMMUNICATION IS A VERY REAL THREAT

Clause 122 threatens to dismantle end-to-end encryption, a critical defence in safeguarding personal information against data breaches. With this protection eroded, the UK stands more exposed to malicious attacks, risking the leak of personal information. For LGBTQ+ youth, this is a ticking time bomb—forced outings could have catastrophic consequences.

THE RISKS EXTEND FAR BEYOND THE UK’S BORDERS

LGBTQ+ people living in 12 countries globally face the death penalty, with countries like Iran, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Yemen putting it into practice. Hostile governments are already weaponising digital tools to target LGBTQ+ people. The UK’s Online Safety Act could hand them a blueprint for ramping up digital witch-hunts.

In places where being LGBTQ+ is a social and legal minefield, private, secure, and encrypted communications are a lifeline for people at home and in high-risk countries.

THE ONLINE SAFETY ACT IGNORES THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

Children are growing up in a post-internet world. They have access to the full store of human knowledge but also troves of materials not appropriate for their age and maturity. The genie cannot be put back in the bottle. Instead, we need to update our education for the new world and be pragmatic in ensuring children and caregivers can navigate the best and worst of the online world.

IT IS ANOTHER STICKING PLASTER

We can’t keep children safe from everything that is potentially harmful for them to see. The Online Safety Act seems to believe that technology can do this with no basis in fact. What is needed instead is to help kids approach the world well and teach them how to handle, process and deal with harmful things in collaboration with their caregivers.

WE NEED PROPER DIGITAL LITERACY

The Online Safety Act does nothing about improving digital literacy in the UK. The very lack of informed, relevant debate about the Online Safety Act during its time in Parliament highlights this failure. The government must act to address the technological education children receive so they are better prepared to interact with the online world and understand the technologies that will define their lives. The current Act does no such thing.

NEED PROPER RSE

Relationship and sex education in the UK is failing our children, and sadly the debate in politics is informed by untruths and ideologically driven opposition. Only 35% of the young people rate their RSE as “good” or “very good. 22% rate the quality of their school RSE as “bad” or “very bad”.

We need more time for RSE and more in-depth exploration of issues, we need lessons focused on more talking, more honesty and more open evaluations. We need more about relationships, more about consent, communication and respect, more non-judgemental and more diverse representation and crucially, more consultation with young people themselves. Instead of this route, the OSA tries to pretend we can keep young people safe by stopping them from accessing things until 18.

WE NEED TO EMPOWER PARENTS, CAREGIVERS AND CHILDREN, NOT CIVIL SERVANTS

All too often the OSA was debated as if parents and caregivers did not exist. Decisions over what content children are exposed to and at what age need to foreground their caregivers, not Whitehall civil servants and nameless bureaucrats. Our system should be designed to give those most involved in the lives of children the tools and capabilities to help them through the world. Ofcom’s guidance so far has no mention of helping in this regard Instead, this act is creating parenting by government diktat.