Since taking office on July 5, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been bombarded with the world’s latest ceasefires and negotiations. On his home turf, Starmer’s political party, Labour, has suggested updating the Online Safety Act. They first want to add age verification protocols to prevent minors from accessing merchant sites.
The matter soon intensified with suggestions to either ban VPNs or restrict their functions to protect a country’s internet access. Despite an opposing petition with over 380,000 signatures, the UK Government refuses to repeal the Online Safety Act. How are global businesses handling the updated bill?
What’s Included in the Updated Online Safety Act?
The UK Parliament offers insight into Labour’s refusal to the petition against the updated Online Safety Act on their official website. The whistleblower, Ofcom, recognizes the bill’s flaws in the UK Government’s internet safety protocols. According to an official spokesperson, Ofcom CEO Dame Melanie Dawes has tried working with the UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle, since July 8.
Dawes discovered that the Online Safety Act endorses full surveillance on all web platforms, including search engines and site forums. She wanted the 2023 bill to be repealed in the event of a privacy risk breach. Labour overruled the petition on July 24. They trusted that the bill would provide safety measures for children against malicious and adult-only websites. Ofcom and Labour did form a compromise to implement an improved assessment to identify users as adults.
The party soon realized that their protection measures could be ignored through a VPN. A VPN is a virtual private network that allows users to enter another country’s Wi-Fi anonymously. Many of them are provided through a paid service, such as Nord and Express. GBN reported that Proton VPN is the most downloaded UK provider for its free use. Labour decided to restrict VPN usage through age verification. The process requires proof of a credit card and a passport.
Who’s Adapting and Who’s Refusing?
Online services have already begun to process changes for the Online Safety Act. Microsoft will implement age verification for Xbox Live in 2026. Unlike Nintendo’s Parental Controls, the UK Government’s method will be added to prevent minors from making purchases. In 2024, the US updated porn sites to require submitting an ID in a selection of states. Texas became the latest state to join the list, preventing minors from accessing them.
However, not many people interpret the measures in the Online Safety Act correctly. Some organizations, like Collective Shout, have abused their authority. They have pressured payment providers to stop consumer purchases of games that do or could contain explicit sexual content and unlawful acts.
Ofcom previously warned that the UK Online Safety Act will result in the exponential growth of generative AI. Back in October 2024, they explained that a business’ user-to-user agreements are more likely to be conveyed by chatbot assistants. Over the years, chatbots have also been used by scammers to lure users to their malicious sites.
Australia’s Online Safety Act protocol could face generative AI as a new problem in the future. Their government plans to include facial recognition in their age verification process. The technology is more accessible than before, and it can recreate a person as a deepfake.
UK National Cyber Security Centre Challenges the Bill
With Labour satisfied with the UK’s new VPN restrictions, the party faces a new challenge. The country’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) chose not to comply with the updated Online Safety Act. Guido Fawkes received intel that the administration wants people to continue using VPNs. Doing so will test the limits of the age verification process.
According to the article, Kyle is struggling to persuade the British public to verify their age. Because VPNs allow users to stay anonymous, it’s almost impossible to decipher whether an adult or a minor is using it. Another method the NCSC recommends is to avoid using public hotspots and use 3G/4G data. Going mobile will allow users to have their network connection tethered with built-in security. For now, the world awaits the results of the bill.
