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 set to follow suit in 2026. But do these measures actually protect children or are they just a nuisance for adults?

UK Online Safety Act (OSA) entered into force on July 25 and forced websites to block children from viewing pornography and content that encourages self-harm, depicts violence or encourages dangerous stunts. The legislation has drew criticism over the wide range of “harmful content” it covers, and ultimately caused a flurry of small websites that will be shut down as the owners saw no way to meet the heavy regulatory burden this brought.

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

There are certainly signs that such legislation is having force. British regulator Ofcom fined AVS Group, which operates 18 porn sites, £1 million for failure to take adequate measures to prevent access by childrenwhile other companies were “told to do more work“About safety measures. But it is in technology that these new laws fail.

Facial recognition technology designed to verify age could be tricked using screenshots of video game charactersand VPNs make it easier appear on websites as a user from another country where age verification is not required. To the alarm of legislators VPN searches have skyrocketed within hours of the OSA taking effect, and companies reported daily registrations increase up to 1800 percent. So, the news that the largest porn site has appeared 77% decline in visits from the UK Following OSA, this may need to be taken with a grain of salt – users may simply be changing their settings to appear as if they come from countries where age verification is not required.

England's Children's Commissioner said the loophole needed to be closed and suggested age verification to prevent children from using VPN. But this feels like chasing the problem around in circles rather than dealing with its source – so what should we do?

Andrew Kaungwho previously worked on the safety and moderation teams at Meta and TikTok, says he doesn't believe harmful content is being shown to children intentionally, but unintentionally because algorithms learn that it holds attention longer and attracts more attention, thereby generating more ad revenue. This makes him skeptical that tech companies will actually seek to protect children, as it could hurt their bottom line.

“It's very hard to imagine that they're going to enforce [any new legislation] themselves when their interests and public interests conflict with each other. Profit is still critical, says Kuang. “They will do the bare minimum in terms of compliance.”

Graham Murdoch from Loughborough University, UK, says regulation will always lag behind the rapid pace of development by tech companies, so the flurry of new internet safety laws is likely to disappoint. Instead, he would like to see the creation of government-owned internet services in which search engines and social media platforms would operate under a public charter along the lines of the BBC.

“The Internet is a public service. It offers all sorts of incredibly valuable opportunities for people in their daily lives, so we need to treat it as a public service,” Murdoch says. “I think we're at a bit of a turning point. If we don't do something big enough now, I think it will be beyond recovery.”