3

Online Safety Act fails to adequately tackle misinformation and pervasive online harm

Conclusion
The Online Safety Act was not designed to tackle misinformation—we heard that even if it had been fully implemented, it would have made little difference to the spread of misleading content that drove violence and hate in summer 2024. Therefore, the Act fails to keep UK citizens safe from a core and pervasive online harm. (Conclusion, Paragraph 18)
Government Response

A response document is linked to this report, dated 17 October 2025. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document.

Addressee Bodies
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Timeline
Recommendation age 1.2 yr
Report published 11 Jul 2025