The Online Safety Act is one year old. Has it made children safe?

On 17 September, a press release popped into my inbox. It was from Meta, which owns Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook and Messenger. Nothing to get excited about, happens all the time. Only this one was different. It was effectively announcing the biggest shake up in Instagram’s short history, the creation of specific “teen accounts”.

In short, it means all existing accounts belonging to under 18s would be moved to new accounts with built-in restrictions, including greater parental controls for children under 16. Any child signing up from that week would automatically get one of the new “safer” accounts.

The reality of the new teen accounts may not quite match up to the hyperbole of the press release, but Meta didn’t have to make this change. Was it the spectre of the OSA that forced their hand? Yes, but only in part.

It would be wrong to think that all the positive changes protecting children online have come about because of the prospect of the OSA. The UK is only one player in a global move to restrict the power of big tech. In February this year the EU’s Digital Services Act fully came into force, embedding a duty of transparency on big firms and holding them to account for illegal or harmful content.

In the US, federal legislation seems to have stalled, but there lawsuits are coming that target the biggest social media platforms. Families of children harmed by their exposure to harmful content, school boards and the Attorneys General of 42 states are suing the platforms. The suits are being brought under consumer protection laws. In these cases, the claim is that social media was designed to be addictive and does not have adequate protections for children. They are seeking billions of dollars in pay-outs.

The influence of Molly Russell’s story here is also significant. I have met some of those bringing these lawsuits and their lawyers. They all know her name. As do senior people in Silicon Valley. Long before the OSA became law, companies were starting to introduce better content moderation.

That said, Ian Russell believes much, much more needs to be done.

“While firms continue to move fast and break things, timid regulation could cost lives… We have to find a way to move faster and to be bolder”.