The Online Safety Act Explained: What It Means for UK Social Media Users and Creators

Last updated: 31 October 2026.

The Online Safety Act is the UK law that makes social media platforms, search engines and other online services responsible for protecting users, and especially children, from illegal and harmful content. Ofcom enforces it. Since 25 July 2025, platforms have had to apply child safety measures such as safer feeds and, where needed, “highly effective” age checks. For creators, that means some content reaches under-18s less readily, audiences may be age-checked, and anyone running an online community should know the basics.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

What is the Online Safety Act?

The Online Safety Act 2023 became law on 26 October 2023. It places legal duties on online services that let users share content or interact, and on search engines, to tackle illegal content and protect children. Ofcom is the regulator.

The government’s Online Safety Act explainer sets out the main duties:

• Illegal content: services must assess the risk of illegal content and act to reduce it and remove it.
• Child safety: services likely to be accessed by children must stop them seeing the most harmful content, such as pornography and material encouraging self-harm, eating disorders or suicide.
• Adult controls: the biggest (Category 1) services must give adults tools to reduce content they see from non-verified users.

The Act isn’t only about big tech. Ofcom estimates over 100,000 online services are likely to be in scope, “from the largest social media platforms to the smallest community forum”.

Online Safety Act timeline: key dates

The Act is being switched on in phases. These are the milestones that matter most to social media users and creators.

What do Ofcom’s children’s codes require?

Ofcom’s Protection of Children Codes contain more than 40 practical measures for platforms that children are likely to use. They’ve applied since 25 July 2025.

Ofcom’s summary of the new rules groups them into six areas:

1. Safer feeds: recommendation algorithms must filter harmful content out of children’s feeds.
2. Effective age checks: riskier services must use highly effective age assurance to identify children.
3. Fast action: harmful content must be reviewed and dealt with quickly.
4. More choice and support: children should be able to say what they don’t want to see, decline group chat invitations, and block or mute accounts.
5. Easier reporting: complaints must be straightforward and lead to appropriate action.
6. Strong governance: each service needs a named person accountable for children’s safety.

How do online age checks work in the UK?

Since 25 July 2025, sites and apps that allow pornography have had to use highly effective age checks. Just ticking a box to say you’re over 18 is no longer enough.

Ofcom’s guide to age checks for users lists the methods services can use:

• Facial age estimation from a photo or video
• Open banking checks
• Digital identity wallets
• Credit card checks
• Email-based age estimation
• Mobile network operator checks
• Photo ID matching

Ofcom says strong age checks can protect privacy, and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) oversees data protection. Social platforms can also use age assurance to spot under-age users. In March 2026 Ofcom told Facebook, Instagram, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube to enforce their minimum ages effectively, citing research that 72% of children aged 8–12 had used sites with a minimum age of 13.

What has changed on social media platforms?

The biggest visible changes are teen-specific account settings, filtered recommendations for younger users and more age checks. Some changes are platform policies rather than legal requirements, but they point the same way.

• Teen accounts: Instagram Teen Accounts, launched in the UK in 2024, make under-16s’ accounts private by default, limit who can message them, apply the strictest sensitive content settings and need a parent’s permission to relax those settings.
• Safer feeds: platforms must keep the most harmful content out of children’s recommendations.
• Grooming protections: after Ofcom’s March 2026 demands, it reported in May that Snap, Meta and Roblox had agreed to significant new anti-grooming measures.
• Adult features: platforms already put some features behind age limits. TikTok, for example, requires hosts to be 18 to go LIVE (see our TikTok LIVE guide).

What does the Online Safety Act mean for creators?

The Act regulates platforms, not individual creators’ everyday posts. But it changes who sees your content, how platforms moderate it and, in a few cases, what you’re personally responsible for.

Your reach among under-18s may change

If your content touches on themes the Act treats as harmful to children, such as self-harm, eating disorders or explicit material, expect platforms to keep it away from younger users’ feeds. If a large share of your audience is teenage, a drop in reach may reflect safety filtering rather than a penalty. Our guide on how to tell if you’re shadowbanned helps you tell the difference.

Some viewers will hit age checks

Where your content or features sit behind age assurance, some viewers will face an extra step, and some won’t complete it. Factor that into how you plan age-restricted content.

Individuals can commit the new offences

The offences that took effect in January 2024, including cyberflashing, epilepsy trolling, sending false or threatening communications, encouraging self-harm and intimate image abuse, apply to people, not just platforms. Pile-ons and “joke” threats can have criminal consequences.

Running a community may put you in scope

If you run your own forum, a website with user comments or a membership site where users interact, the Act may apply to you directly. Ofcom says low-risk small services are expected to have basic measures such as clear terms, a complaints route and the ability to remove illegal content quickly. Ofcom’s online checker can tell you whether you’re likely to be covered. If your community lives on someone else’s platform, such as a Discord server (see how to grow a Discord server), the platform generally carries the Act’s duties, but good moderation is sensible either way.

Practical steps for UK creators

A few simple habits keep you on the right side of both the law and the platforms’ rules.

1. Know each platform’s rules. Community guidelines often go further than the law, and they decide your reach.
2. Use age-restriction tools for mature content where platforms offer them, rather than hoping filters get it right.
3. Moderate actively. Set keyword filters, appoint moderators and remove abuse quickly.
4. Add context to sensitive topics. Educational or recovery-focused content lands better with a clear framing and signposting to support.
5. Protect your accounts. Turn on two-step verification and follow our account safety basics.
6. Report illegal content using platform tools, and keep evidence of abuse aimed at you.
7. Check your audience data. Know what share of your followers are under 18, so you can understand changes in reach. Our UK social media statistics give wider context.

What are the penalties under the Online Safety Act?

Ofcom can fine companies up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. It can also take criminal action against senior managers who fail to make sure their company responds to information requests.

Ofcom is using those powers. In May 2026 it fined an online suicide forum £950,000 for failing to assess and reduce the risk of UK users encountering illegal suicide content. In the most serious cases, Ofcom can also seek court orders to block access to non-compliant services in the UK.

Frequently asked questions

When did the Online Safety Act come into force?

It became law on 26 October 2023 and is coming into force in phases. Illegal content duties became enforceable on 17 March 2025, and child safety duties on 25 July 2025.

Does the Online Safety Act apply to individual creators?

Its main duties apply to online services, not people posting on them. But the Act’s new criminal offences apply to individuals, and creators who run their own forum or user-generated content site may be in scope.

Why am I being asked to verify my age online?

Services that host pornography, and some platforms managing content harmful to children, must use highly effective age assurance. Self-declaration alone no longer counts.

Will the Online Safety Act reduce my reach?

It can reduce reach among under-18s for content the codes treat as harmful to children. Content for adult audiences that follows platform rules shouldn’t be affected in the same way.

Who enforces the Online Safety Act?

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator. It can investigate services, issue fines and apply to the courts for business disruption measures.

Safe, rule-abiding accounts are the ones that grow over the long run. If you want to build social proof without cutting corners, see how StreamElevate works and browse our TikTok growth services, designed to work alongside good content and platform rules.