Government pledges swift action on online safety

In a move to bolster online safety for children, the Prime Minister is set to announce significant government proposals aimed at keeping young people safe online. Speaking to parents and young people yesterday, he emphasised that this government will act at pace to implement measures that could prevent children from using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access pornography illicitly, as well as limit their interactions with online chatbots.

Jamie Hurworth, a Dispute Resolution lawyer and Online Safety Act expert at Payne Hicks Beach, shared his concerns regarding the government's plan. He stated “Until the government addresses VPN regulation head-on, certain offences in the Online Safety Act can be sidestepped with relative ease. They not only allow children to bypass age-verification safeguards and access pornography and other harmful material undetected, but they can also obscure where online content originates from too.

Hurworth further highlighted the importance of a comprehensive approach, stating “But waiting for Parliament alone is not enough. Accountability must extend across the entire digital ecosystem - from platforms that design and deploy these systems, to regulators tasked with enforcement, and to intermediaries that enable anonymity - or we risk creating a framework that looks robust on paper but proves porous in practice, leaving children exposed and enforcement powerless.”

As discussions around online safety continue, the government's intention to enhance protections for children is set against a backdrop of urgent calls for accountability and regulation across the digital landscape

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