So, likely confirming many sceptics' view of the Online Safety Act, Ofcom has concluded that in its first nine months it has had no discernible positive impact on the flow of inappropriate & dangerous material reaching children via social media.
As many argued at the time (and as I became convinced of after discussions in my timeline) this was the wrong way to address what remains a serious social problem.
We need a much bigger stick to deal with BigTech!
#politics
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/oct/23/uk-children-just-as-likely-to-have-suffered-harm-on-social-media-despite-crackdown-ofcom-online-safety-act
@ChrisMayLA6 The way it should be done:
Giving parents information on how to control their children's devices, the connection it has to the internet, and filter content at the router/parental control level.
Force ISPs to give parents options on filtering out content on specific devices on their accounts, so their kid's devices get a sanitised version of the internet, with little to no social media until they're in their teens at least. And even then. And force social media companies to give parents the option to disable algorithms, like they're doing in Australia. That way kids will only see the content they've signed up to follow. Much like how the Fediverse works.
I know a worrying amount of parents won't give a shit. But a sizeable amount **will. **They want to, but won't know how to do this. But that's part of being a parent, being responsible for what you expose your child to, and putting measures in place to ensure their safety. Even if that means educating yourself on how to do it.
The Online Safety Act was doomed to fail from the start, and treating all Adults in the UK like they're either children or prefators was never going to be a great way to go about it.