Online Safety Act brings progress, but UK children still face harm online

A new report from Internet Matters suggests the UK’s Online Safety Act has introduced more visible safety measures for children, but has not yet delivered the step change needed to make their online lives meaningfully safer. Drawing on surveys and focus groups with children and parents, the report presents an early view of how the law is affecting families in practice.

The findings point to some clear signs of progress. Parents and children report seeing more safety features, including improved reporting tools, content filters, restrictions on certain functions, and stronger parental controls. Many children also say the content they encounter online is becoming more age-appropriate.

At the same time, the report argues that important weaknesses remain. Children continue to encounter harmful content at high rates, while age verification is widely seen as easy to bypass. Internet Matters also says that some of the issues families care most about, including excessive screen time and the risks linked to AI-generated content, are still not adequately addressed under the current framework.

The report concludes that parents are still carrying too much of the burden of keeping children safe online. It calls for stronger enforcement, more effective age assurance, tighter limits on harmful features, and a broader safety-by-design approach to digital services used by children in the UK.

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