Hi everyone,
Are we enjoying the Summer break still, or has the inevitable boredom of the kids kicked in? The temptation might be to submit and extend that screen time limit to allow them ten more minutes of Roblox and us ten more minutes of peace!
However...
This week, I want to dive into a topic that's been bubbling away in the background, a conversation that feels both urgent and, for many, a little confusing: the UK's new Online Safety Act. It's a huge piece of legislation, and the headlines have been a rollercoaster of praise and alarm. My goal today is to break down what it is, why it's so controversial, and what it means for you and your school-aged children.
What is the Online Safety Act?
On the surface, the Online Safety Act sounds like a no-brainer. The core idea is to make the internet a safer place for everyone, particularly children. It places a "duty of care" on social media platforms, search engines, and other websites to protect their users from harmful content. Think of it as a legal framework that forces tech companies to take responsibility for what happens on their platforms, rather than simply shrugging and saying, "We're just a neutral platform."
The Act targets three main areas of online harm:
Illegal Content: This is the stuff we all agree on. It's about cracking down on things like child abuse material, terrorist content, and the sale of illegal drugs online.
Content Harmful to Children: This is where things get a bit more nuanced. It includes material like self-harm content, pornography, and content that promotes eating disorders. The Act requires platforms to put in place robust systems to prevent children from seeing this stuff.
Harmful Content to Adults: The Act also addresses a category of content that is legal but still harmful, such as cyberbullying and harassment. It requires platforms to have clear and accessible reporting mechanisms for users.
So far, so good, right? Who could possibly argue with the goal of protecting children from online harms? Well, this is where the controversy begins.
The Devil in the Digital Details: Why is it so Controversial?
The debate isn't about whether we should protect children—it's about how we do it and what the unintended consequences might be. The Act has a number of critics, from free speech advocates to tech experts, and their concerns are worth listening to.
One of the biggest issues is the concept of "legal but harmful" content. Critics argue that this is a dangerously vague category. What one person considers "harmful," another might see as a legitimate, if uncomfortable, expression of a point of view. For example, a young person's blog post discussing their struggles with gender identity could be flagged as "harmful" by a platform, even if it's a vital source of support for others. There are fears that this ambiguity could lead to platforms being overly cautious and censoring a wide range of legal content to avoid hefty fines from the communications regulator, Ofcom. The fear is that the Act will inadvertently create a chilling effect on free speech, pushing difficult but necessary conversations to the fringes of the internet.
Another major point of contention is around privacy and encryption. The Act gives Ofcom the power to order platforms to use "accredited technology" to scan for and remove illegal content. While this sounds reasonable for tackling serious crimes, it has a serious downside. Many of the most popular messaging apps, like WhatsApp and Signal, use end-to-end encryption. This is a security feature that ensures only the sender and recipient can read a message—not even the company itself can access it. The Act, critics argue, could force these companies to break that encryption, essentially creating a backdoor for monitoring private communications. For parents, this is a particularly complex issue. We want our children to be safe, but we also want them to have a right to private conversations, free from state or corporate surveillance. It's a fine line between protection and intrusion.
What Does This Mean for Your Family and Your Child’s School?
For parents, the Online Safety Act is a game-changer, but not necessarily in the way you might think. While it places the legal burden on tech companies, it doesn’t absolve us of our responsibility to talk to our children about online behaviour. In fact, a major part of the DfE’s updated guidance for schools is to integrate online safety into the curriculum, not just as a one-off assembly, but as a consistent theme across all subjects. This is something I've talked about before, particularly in my post about e-Safety During Lockdown, and it's a practice that's now more important than ever.
Schools will likely be reviewing their own policies to ensure they are in line with the new legislation. This might mean new lessons on media literacy, digital citizenship, and understanding online harms. For you, this means you can expect your children to come home with more conversations about what they're doing online, how to report problems, and what to do if they see something that makes them feel uncomfortable. It’s a perfect opportunity for you to have these conversations with them yourself, reinforcing the messages they are hearing at school.
The challenge for parents and teachers will be to navigate the fine balance between protection and empowerment. We need to teach children to be resilient digital citizens, not just passive consumers of online content. The Act, for all its good intentions, could lead to a more sanitised internet, but it won't remove the risks entirely. The real goal is to equip our children with the critical thinking skills to make good choices for themselves, whether the internet is heavily regulated or not.
So, while the debate rages on in parliament and on tech blogs, our job as parents remains the same: be present, be informed, and keep talking to our children. The Act is a new tool in the online safety toolbox, but it's not a magic shield. The most powerful protection our children have is our guidance and their own good judgement.
Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you next time!
Carl Headley-Morris
X - @mrmsmusings | email - mrmorristeacher@gmail.com