Call 0800 1111
Online Safety Act
The Online Safety Act is there to help keep everyone safe online. Find out more about what it is and how it can help you.
Content warning: This page contains mentions of suicide, self-harm, eating problems, and sexual abuse.
What is the Online Safety Act?
The Online Safety Act is a group of laws that different social media sites, games, and apps need to follow. It’s there to keep the people that use their sites safe, and especially to protect children.
There are lots of things these sites need to do, including:
- stopping people sharing illegal content, like sexual images of children
- making sure children can’t access content that they usually wouldn’t be allowed to, like pornography
- preventing content that encourages eating disorders or self-harm
- making it easier to report things or get support.
The Act also makes some things online illegal, which can make it easier for the police to protect children and young people.
What will change?
To make sure companies are protecting you properly, they have to follow a new set of rules. These rules are there to make sure anyone who uses their site has safer experiences.
Some of these changes might be harder to notice, but others will change how you use these sites whenever you go on.
You might see:
- better safety settings to give you more control over your privacy and who can contact you
- more information about who to contact if you need help
- better safety information to help with making decisions online
- more choice over the types of content you see, including options to make sure you see less of content you don’t like.
New Crimes and the Online Safety Act
There are lots of people who have done things online to try and hurt or abuse other people. The Online Safety Act makes some of these things illegal. These include:
- Encouraging self-harm
This includes messaging or posting content to encourage someone else to hurt themselves, including encouraging people who are feeling suicidal to act on their feelings.
- “Cyberflashing”
This is when someone sends a sexual image or video to another person without their consent.
- Sending fake information or messages to hurt someone
It’s now against the law for someone to deliberately send you fake news or information to try and upset or hurt you.
- Sharing sexual images of someone
Whether you’re over or under 18, it’s now against the law for someone to share any sexual image or video of you without your consent.
- “Epilepsy trolling”
Epilepsy can affect people in lots of ways, including having seizures if they’re shown flashing lights. It’s now against the law for someone to send a message with a video to try and give them a seizure.
The Online Safety Act doesn’t stop other things still being illegal. For example, it’s still against the law for someone to blackmail or groom you online.
If you’re worried about something that’s happened online, we’re here for you.
Questions about the Online Safety Act
It’s natural to have questions about any new laws or changes online. We’ve answered a few of them below:
Why do I need to verify my age?
Social media companies, apps, and games now have a legal duty to make sure they’re not showing illegal or age-restricted content to children and young people. This means anyone wanting to view that content will now need to prove their age.
There are different ways that companies are checking people’s ages, and they need to make sure that any information they collect is kept safe and private. If you’re not sure about an age verification you’ve been asked to do, you should always speak to an adult you trust.
Why was the Act created?
There are risks online, just like there are risks offline. In the past it’s been easy for people to go online to deliberately hurt others. The Online Safety Act was created to make using the internet safer for everyone, especially children and young people.
What should I do if I see something illegal?
There are lots of ways to get support if you’ve seen or experienced something:
- make a report to the social media site you’re on
- tell an adult you trust what’s happened
- use Report Remove to get sexual images of you taken down
- speak to the police using CEOP to report sexual abuse online.
Remember, Childline is always here to support you, and you can contact a Childline counsellor any time.
What if I have more questions?
If you have questions about the Online Safety Act, want to share your views of it, or have anything else to share, we’re here for you.
Get more support
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.