Online Safety Act: Effectiveness Against Pornography and Dark Web Use

The Online Safety Act's Purpose and Shortcomings

• 💡 The Online Safety Act was enacted to protect children from harmful online content, stemming from tragic suicides and deaths linked to internet use.
• ⚠️ Despite its intentions, the act is criticized for not achieving its primary goal of protecting children.
• 🎯 Key measures include making platforms accountable, implementing age checks, removing illegal content, and imposing fines, but these are seen as insufficient.

Age Verification and Its Limitations

• 🔞 The recent implementation of age verification for sites like Pornhub and X (formerly Twitter) aims to prevent underage access to pornography.
• 📧 Current methods, such as email verification, are easily bypassed, with users gaining access after simple steps.
• 🚫 The use of VPNs completely nullifies age verification measures, allowing unrestricted access.
• 📉 While Pornhub has seen a user drop, this is attributed to a small percentage of users who may be deterred, not a systemic solution.

Broader Online Harms and Grooming

• ⚠️ Beyond pornography, the act is criticized for not adequately addressing online grooming and sexual predators, which remain a significant threat.
• 🚨 The expert, with 30 years of law enforcement experience including undercover work, states that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is the real concern, not general pornography experimentation by minors.
• 📱 Harmful online challenges, like the 'choking challenge' originating from user-generated content on platforms like TikTok, are also a major concern not fully addressed.
• ⏳ Grooming and online predation are expected to continue despite the act, as enforcement and international cooperation have diminished.

Freedom of Expression and Dystopian Concerns

• 🗣️ Critics, like Nigel Farage, argue the act leads to suppression of expression and can be seen as a dystopian law.
• ⚖️ The lack of clear definitions for 'online harm' and 'harmful content' allows for the policing of opinions rather than concrete illegal activities.
• 🚫 This ambiguity could lead to the suppression of legitimate speech and opinions, potentially impacting even non-profit organizations like Wikipedia.

The Dark Web and Future Concerns

• 🌐 The act may inadvertently push underage users towards the dark web by deterring them from mainstream sites, creating greater risks as the dark web is largely unregulated by the act.
• 🔒 While the dark web itself is legal, its content is predominantly illegal, and VPNs facilitate access, making it a more dangerous environment.
• ⏳ The government is unlikely to repeal the act soon, with changes expected only after several years and potentially a new government, leaving children vulnerable in the interim.
• 💰 Penalties for non-compliance, such as 10% of global revenue or $18 million, are considered insufficient deterrents for large platforms like OnlyFans, which is valued in billions.