What's next for the Online Safety Act?

“One of the frustrations from a civil society perspective that is that the codes which Ofcom have produced to date are focused on content moderation and content takedown side of the response [...] ultimately all of these interventions are very far downstream, the harm has occurred; the thing that the Act is supposed to prevent has already occurred.” 

With duties and guidance from Ofcom – around illegal harms and content, women and girls’ online safety, and the protection of children – all coming into force in 2025, it’s an important year for the implementation of the Online Safety Act.

But with geopolitics becoming visibly more turbulent, tech like generative AI working its way into daily life and tech companies themselves pivoting in controversial ways, we have to ask: is the Act overly vulnerable to external change, and can it actually regulate the online world? 

To help assess how the Act is currently faring (and how it might in the future), we're joined by Maeve Walsh, director of the Online Safety Act Network. 

You can catch up on every episode of the Tech Shock podcast here.