The Online Safety Act: 5 Shocking Deadlines And New Rules Big Tech MUST Meet In 2025

The digital world is undergoing a seismic shift, and the clock is ticking for major technology companies. As of late 2025, the UK’s landmark Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) is no longer a proposal; it is a fully enacted law with critical, enforceable deadlines that are fundamentally changing how social media platforms, search engines, and user-to-user services operate. This comprehensive piece of legislation, which received Royal Assent in October 2023, aims to make the internet a safer place for children and adults by imposing a new "duty of care" on tech giants. The focus of 2025 is on implementation, with the regulator Ofcom now actively enforcing key provisions and imposing severe penalties for non-compliance. The immediate impact of the OSA is being felt across the industry, forcing companies to overhaul their systems for illegal content and child safety. The Act's core philosophy shifts the burden of responsibility from the user to the platform, making service providers accountable for the safety of their users. With the first major compliance deadlines passing and new ones rapidly approaching, the year 2025 marks the true beginning of the regulated internet era, setting a global precedent for digital governance and sparking intense debate over free speech and privacy rights.

The Online Safety Act 2023: Key Facts and Legislative History

The Online Safety Act (OSA) is a pivotal piece of legislation passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is considered one of the most comprehensive legal frameworks globally designed to regulate online content and protect users from harm.

• Full Name: Online Safety Act 2023 (c. 50)
• Jurisdiction: United Kingdom (UK)
• Royal Assent Date: 26 October 2023
• Primary Regulator: Ofcom (Office of Communications)
• Core Objective: To establish a new statutory framework that imposes duties of care on providers of online services to protect users from harmful and illegal content.
• Scope: Applies to user-to-user services (like social media platforms), search engines, and services that host or enable user-generated content.
• Penalties: Ofcom has the power to issue fines of up to £18 million or 10% of a company’s annual global turnover, whichever is greater.

The journey of the OSA was long and controversial, evolving from the initial 2019 Online Harms White Paper. A key amendment removed the controversial "legal but harmful" provisions for adults, focusing the Act on two main pillars: illegal content and child safety. The Act’s implementation is divided into several phases, with 2025 being the crucial year for the enforcement of the most significant initial duties.

5 Critical Deadlines That Are Reshaping the Internet in 2025

The phased rollout of the Online Safety Act, managed by Ofcom, includes several non-negotiable compliance deadlines for in-scope services. Failure to meet these dates means facing the full force of the regulator’s punitive powers. These deadlines focus heavily on the first phase: tackling illegal content and protecting children.

1. March 17, 2025: Illegal Content Codes of Practice Come into Force

This is one of the most significant early milestones. As of March 17, 2025, the Codes of Practice relating to illegal content officially come into force. This means platforms must be actively complying with their new safety duties by this date.

What it means for platforms:

• Risk Assessments: Platforms must have conducted and documented robust risk assessments to identify and mitigate the likelihood of illegal content appearing on their service.
• Swift Removal: There is a legal duty to swiftly remove specified categories of illegal content, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), terrorist content, and content promoting self-harm.
• Proactive Measures: Companies must implement "safety-by-design" features and processes, such as content moderation tools and reporting mechanisms, to prevent the proliferation of illegal material.

2. April 6, 2025: Children's Access Assessment Deadline

Service providers must complete their initial children’s access assessment by this date. This duty requires platforms to determine whether children (users under 18) are likely to access their service.

What it means for platforms:

• If a service is deemed "likely to be accessed by children," it immediately falls under the stringent child safety duties of the Act.
• This triggers the requirement to implement more comprehensive safety measures to protect minors from harmful content, including content that is legal for adults but inappropriate for children.

3. June 30, 2025: Initial Enforcement of Core Safety Pillars Begins

By the end of June 2025, Ofcom will have completed the initial Illegal Harms and Protection of Children Codes and will begin the active enforcement of these key pillars. This date marks the transition from a period of guidance and preparation to one of full regulatory scrutiny.

What it means for platforms:

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• Ofcom will be actively monitoring compliance, opening investigations, and preparing to issue enforcement notices.
• Platforms that have not sufficiently addressed their duties regarding illegal harms and child protection will be at high risk of investigation and substantial financial penalties.

4. July 25, 2025: Mandatory Age Verification for Pornographic Content

Perhaps the most controversial and technically challenging deadline, July 25, 2025, is the date by which all sites and apps hosting pornographic content must have "highly effective" age verification systems in place.

What it means for platforms:

• Providers of user-to-user services and search services that publish or allow access to pornographic content must implement technology to prevent children from accessing it.
• This requirement has raised significant debates about user privacy and the technical feasibility of implementing effective, privacy-preserving age checks across the entire internet.

5. Late 2025: Transparency and Accountability Duties

While the exact date is subject to Ofcom's updated regulatory roadmap, the latter half of 2025 will see the commencement of duties related to transparency and accountability.

What it means for platforms:

• Platforms will be required to publish transparency reports detailing how they are meeting their safety duties, including data on content moderation decisions, user complaints, and the effectiveness of their risk mitigation measures.
• These duties are designed to give users and the regulator unprecedented insight into the algorithms and processes used by Big Tech to manage online content.

The Global Impact and Controversies: Free Speech vs. Digital Safety

The UK's Online Safety Act has set a powerful global precedent, but it is not without its critics. The sheer scope of the Act has ignited a fierce debate, particularly concerning the potential for censorship and the chilling effect on free expression.

The Free Speech Conundrum

Critics argue that the Act, especially the duties compelling platforms to enforce their own terms of service against certain forms of "legal but harmful" content (even if the controversial adult provisions were removed), could lead to over-removal of content. Organizations concerned with digital rights worry that the threat of massive fines will incentivize platforms to err on the side of caution, leading to the suppression of legitimate political discourse, satire, and minority views. The Act, they suggest, could inadvertently entrench the power of large platforms, making it harder for smaller, newer services to compete due to the high compliance costs.

The US Parallel: The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)

The global conversation on digital regulation is mirrored in other jurisdictions, notably the United States, where the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has been a major legislative focus in 2025. KOSA, a separate bill, aims to require platforms to act in the "best interest of a child" and implement safeguards to reduce features that may cause harm, such as addictive design and exposure to content related to self-harm and eating disorders. While KOSA is not yet law, the legislative momentum in the US, combined with the UK's OSA, signals a worldwide trend toward greater social media regulation and algorithmic transparency.

Navigating the New Digital Landscape

The year 2025 is a watershed moment for online security and digital governance. The Online Safety Act mandates a fundamental cultural shift within technology companies, moving from a reactive model of content removal to a proactive one of risk mitigation and safety-by-design. The Act introduces over 30 new duties on technology companies, creating a complex web of compliance requirements. Key entities and concepts that are now central to the digital conversation include:

• Ofcom’s Codes of Practice: Detailed guidance that platforms must follow to comply with the Act.
• Harmful Content: A broad category that platforms must assess and address, especially concerning children.
• End-to-End Encryption (E2EE): A major point of contention, as the Act grants Ofcom powers to require platforms to use accredited technology to scan for CSAM, which critics say could undermine E2EE and user privacy.
• Risk Management: The core duty requiring platforms to assess and mitigate systemic risks.
• User Empowerment: Duties to provide users with tools to manage their exposure to content and to easily report complaints.

The implementation of the OSA is a marathon, not a sprint. While the initial phases focus on the most severe harms, future phases will introduce further duties related to journalistic content, democratic processes, and the protection of freedom of expression. The success of the Act will be measured not only by the reduction of online harm but also by its ability to balance safety with the fundamental principles of an open and accessible internet.