EFF: “UK’s Online Safety Act doesn’t make children safer online”

Age verification systems won’t help to make the internet a safer place for children. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), it’s one of the latest “misguided attempts” to protect children online.

On July 25th, 2025, the Online Safety Act went into effect in the UK. The legislation is designed to prevent minors from accessing websites that contain pornographic material and other harmful content, such as information regarding self-mutilation, eating disorders, or suicide.

The new legislation requires website owners and app developers to implement age verification systems and controls to check the age of their users. Platforms that refuse to comply face penalties of up to £18 million, or 10 percent of their annual global turnover – whichever is greater.

From the outset, critics have been skeptical about the plans, believing they will be ineffective. One such critic is Elon Musk, who has accused the UK of “increasing censorship.” Spotify users in the UK aren’t happy either, suggesting that the UK government has paved the way for a “police state.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an American international non-profit digital rights group that promotes internet civil liberties, isn’t thrilled about the Online Safety Act either.

According to the civil liberties group, the Online Safety Act is no more than a “misguided approach” to protect children online. Rather, politicians should find a more effective age verification method.

“The Online Safety Act is a threat to the privacy of users, restricts free expression by arbitrating speech online, exposes users to algorithmic discrimination through face checks, and leaves millions of people without a personal device or form of ID excluded from accessing the internet,” the EFF says in a blog post.

“If the UK really wants to achieve its goal of being the safest place in the world to go online, it must lead the way in introducing policies that actually protect all users, including children, rather than pushing the enforcement of legislation that harms the very people it was meant to protect,” the civil liberties group suggests.

Ofcom, the UK’s communication regulator, said it is aware that age verification systems aren’t a “silver bullet” but is still happy with the legislation.

“Until now, kids could easily stumble across porn and other online content that’s harmful to them without even looking for it. Age checks will help prevent that. We’re now assessing compliance to make sure platforms have them in place, and companies that fall short should expect to face enforcement action,” Oliver Griffiths, Group Director for Online Safety at Ofcom, told the media when the Online Safety Act went into effect.