Everything the right - and the left – are getting wrong about the Online Safety Act | George Billinge

New limits on what can be seen online have drawn consternation from Nigel Farage and progressives alike. Yet much of it is based on misinformation

• George Billinge is a former Ofcom policy manager

Last week, the UK’s Online Safety Act came into force. It’s fair to say it hasn’t been smooth sailing. Donald Trump’s allies have dubbed it the “UK’s online censorship law”, and the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, added fuel to the fire by claiming that Nigel Farage’s opposition to the act put him “on the side” of Jimmy Savile.

Disdain from the right isn’t surprising. After all, tech companies will now have to assess the risk their platforms pose of disseminating the kind of racist misinformation that fuelled last year’s summer riots. What has particularly struck me, though, is the backlash from progressive quarters. Online outlet Novara Media published an interview claiming the Online Safety Act compromises children’s safety. Politics Joe joked that the act involves “banning Pornhub”. New YouGov polling shows that Labour voters are even less likely to support age verification on porn websites than Conservative or Liberal Democrat voters.

George Billinge is a former Ofcom policy manager and is CEO of tech consultancy Illuminate Tech