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Wire · regulatory

UK Committee Hears Calls to Expand the Online Safety Act's Powers

Published

28 July 2026

Topic

regulatory

Sectors

Cybersecurity

Geography

United Kingdom

Source

Read at reclaimthenet.org

Verified

Fusion42 · 28 July 2026 · Fusion42 review

UK parliament's Communications and Digital Committee heard testimony that the Online Safety Act is failing to deter platform non-compliance, with charities and safety advocates calling for expanded enforcement powers, stricter age verification rules, and extension of oversight to VPN providers.

This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Cybersecurity.

◆ The Wire takeaway

The UK is moving from voluntary platform compliance to mandatory technical controls on age verification and encrypted messaging. If you run a messaging app, social platform, or VPN in Britain, you now face either impossible engineering requirements (reading encrypted messages without decryption keys), VPN blocking, or exit — and the committee is pushing harder.

Coverage

1 source · 28 Jul 2026

Related on Wire

Topics

Cybersecurityonline-safety-actage-verificationencryption-backdoorsplatform-enforcementvpn-regulation