2025 was the year of online safety laws – but do they work?

Several countries around the world have introduced new restrictions on internet access in 2025 to protect children from viewing harmful content, and others appear to intend to follow suit in 2026. But do these measures actually protect children or just annoy adults?

The UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) came into force on July 25 and required websites to prevent children from viewing pornography and content that encourages self-harm, depicts violence or encourages dangerous stunts. The legislation sparked criticism over the wide range of “harmful content” it covers, and it ultimately caused a wave of small websites to shut down as their owners saw no way to comply with the heavy regulatory burden it imposed.

Meanwhile, Australia bans social media for under-16s, even if their parents approve of their use. The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 came into force this month and gave regulators the power to fine companies that failed to stop children using their platforms, up to A$50 million. The European Union is debating a similar ban on children’s access and France has introduced laws requiring age verification for websites containing pornographic content, sparking protests from companies that operate adult websites.

There are signs that such legislation has teeth. UK regulator Ofcom has fined AVS Group, which runs 18 pornographic websites, £1 million for failing to take adequate steps to prevent children’s access, while other companies have been “asked to work more” on security measures. But it’s technology that is defeating these new laws.

Facial recognition technology designed to verify age can be fooled using screenshots of video game characters, and VPNs make it trivial to appear on websites as a user from another country where age verification is not mandatory. What’s concerning for lawmakers is that web searches for VPNs exploded in the hours after the OSA took effect, and companies reported a daily increase in signups of up to 1,800 percent. So the news that the biggest porn website has seen a 77 percent drop in visits from the UK as a result of the OSA should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt: users may simply be changing their settings to make it look like they’re from countries where age checks aren’t required.

England’s Children’s Commissioner said this gap needs to be closed and suggested age verification to stop children using VPNs. But this amounts to chasing the problem in circles rather than tackling it at the source – so what should we do?

Andrew Kaung, who previously worked on the safety and moderation teams at Meta and TikTok, says he doesn’t believe harmful content is shown to children deliberately, but inadvertently, as algorithms learn that it holds attention longer and generates more engagement, thereby generating more ad revenue. That makes him skeptical that tech companies are willing to make a real effort to protect children, because doing so could hurt their bottom line.

“It is very difficult to imagine that they will impose [any new legislation] themselves when their interests and those of the public are in some way opposed. Profit is always king,” says Kuang. “They will do the bare minimum in terms of compliance.”

Graham Murdock, of Loughborough University, UK, says regulation will always lag behind the fast pace of tech companies, so the wave of new online safety laws is likely to be disappointing. Instead, he would like to see the creation of state-run internet services, with search engines and social media platforms operated under a public charter along the lines of the BBC.

“The Internet is a public service. It provides all sorts of incredibly valuable capabilities for people in their daily lives, so we need to think of it as a public service,” Murdock says. “I think we’re at kind of a tipping point. If we don’t do something serious enough now, then I think it’s going to be unsalvageable.”