The UK's Online Safety Act has had little visible impact on children's ability to access harmful content online, with young people telling the Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, that it has made "absolutely no difference." De Souza criticised the legislation for focusing on content moderation rather than addictive platform design features, and accused regulator Ofcom of reacting to harms rather than anticipating them. She also expressed frustration at Ofcom's refusal to share tech companies' safety risk assessments with her, and called on politicians and the regulator to take stronger, more proactive action to protect children online.
