Response to Government's consultation on children's online safety

Online Safety Act Network welcomes children’s online safety consultation but urges government not to delay action to protect children online

We welcome the government's consultation on children’s online safety, its wide remit to explore new interventions including those to tackle addictive design and harm from AI chatbots, and the inclusion of the voices of children and parents. We hope the consultation and the National Conversation will lead to new measures to address the toxic business models, practices, and products of the Big Tech companies that continue to prioritise profit over safety. 

This is the first major consultation since the Online Safety Act was passed, over two and a half years ago so we urge the Government to ensure that it is comprehensive, ambitious and that nothing is ruled out or in before the voices of all those affected - particularly children and young people - have been heard.

However, action on online safety cannot wait a day longer. The government must act now to strengthen existing rules while it consults on how to further safeguard users from harm. It has the levers and powers to act now to stop unsafe products being released onto the market, to ban addictive designs, and to ensure Big Tech companies products are safe by design through simple amendments to the Online Safety Act.