A Liberal Vision for Digital Rights

Submitted by: Young Liberals

Conference notes:

1. The recent rollout on 25 July 2025 of Ofcom’s Protection of Children Codes of Practice under the Online Safety Act 2023.
2. The aims of that Act to provide vital safeguards against harmful online content, including child sexual abuse material, intimate image abuse, and sexual exploitation.
3. The clear evidence of the extensive harm posed to children by exposure to pornography, suicide promotion, and other damaging online content.
4. The concerning reports that have been raised regarding the implementation of the Act, including that:
   1. Political, educational or wellbeing-related content and forums are being inappropriately age-gated.
   2. Third party age-assurance systems may pose data protection and privacy risks to users.
   3. Age-assurance measures could be ineffective, due to circumvention by children and young people using VPNs.
   4. End-to-end encryption could be undermined by certain powers within the Act.
5. The number of civil society organisations and political figures that have raised these concerns, including:
   1. Wikipedia, who have challenged the legislation in court.
   2. The Young Liberals, who have passed a motion at their conference opposing the implementation of the legislation.
   3. Liberal Democrat Science, Innovation and Technology spokespeople Victoria Collins MP and Lord Clement-Jones who have written to the Secretary of State detailing these concerns and calling for further parliamentary scrutiny of the Act and its legislation.
6. That women are disproportionately the targets of deepfakes, harassment and other harmful behaviours online.

Conference believes that:

1. Protecting children and vulnerable groups online is imperative and online safety legislation must hold the tech sector accountable for harms they have failed to police.
2. The current rollout of regulations under the Online Safety Act by Ofcom risks ineffective, disproportionate implementation.
3. It is critical that when introducing regulation on use of the internet, that we do so with a mind on the disproportionate impact on privacy and digital rights, and on groups such as the LGBT+ community where online support networks exist.

Conference therefore calls for:

1. A full and urgent Parliamentary review, to report within 6 months, examining:
   1. Whether the Online Safety Act is meeting its stated aims of keeping children and other vulnerable groups safe online,
   2. Whether it is fit for purpose, and
   3. What further legislation may be required to ensure that the aims of keeping children and other vulnerable groups safe online are achieved in an effective, proportionate way that preserves privacy.
2. Further Parliamentary scrutiny of Ofcom’s implementation of regulations under the Act, ensuring that it focuses squarely on protecting children and other vulnerable groups from online harms, rather than impeding access to political content, educational resources, or support services.
3. The introduction of a Digital Bill of Rights

Applicability: Federal