Social media platforms in the UK now face substantial penalties if they fail to put strong measures in place to address illegal content under newly enacted laws in the Online Safety bill. However, critics believe this bill will be used to censor speech online at a time when the UK is stripping back on freedoms of expression.

Tech firms are required to establish protections that target dangerous harms, which will include content that promotes suicide, extreme pornography, and drug sales. People fear that these measures will extend to legal content, keeping in line with the "authoritarian" normality of politically captured authorities.

In the wake of the Summer riots, people in the UK have been imprisoned for social media posts, coinciding the rise of 'non-crime' incidents where police have visited citizens that have common views that are seen as non-liberal, such as anti-mass immigration, negative of Palestinian causes or against trans ideology to name a few.

As of Monday, all websites and apps falling under the Online Safety Act—encompassing over 100,000 services, from giants like Facebook, Google, and X to platforms such as Reddit and OnlyFans—must take action to prevent this content from appearing or remove it promptly if it does surface online.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle described the crackdown on illegal content as “just the beginning.”

Companies that violate the Act could be hit with fines of up to £18 million or 10% of their global revenue, a sum that, for firms like Meta (Facebook’s parent company) or Google, could reach billions of pounds. In severe cases, non-compliant services could even be shut down entirely.

Ofcom, the UK’s purportedly impartial regulator tasked with enforcing the Act, has issued codes of conduct for tech platforms to follow to ensure compliance. The legislation identifies a whopping 130 priority offences, adapting their moderation systems to effectively handle such material. Critics have argued that Ofcom applies stricter scrutiny to newer, right-leaning opinions while being more lenient with established liberal views.

For instance, Ofcom’s ruling that a GB News program breached impartiality rules by not including left-wing viewpoints, despite mainstream outlets like the BBC are rarely sanctioned for similar imbalances.

Last year, Ofcom cautioned that tech firms still had significant work ahead to meet the Act’s requirements, noting they had not yet fully implemented the necessary safeguards to “protect children and adults from harmful content.”

The Online Safety Act has faced scrutiny from abroad too, with US Vice-President JD Vance criticising it last month, claiming that free speech in the UK was “in retreat.”