The UK’s Online Safety Act, enforced since March 17, 2025, aims to protect users—especially children—from harmful online content like abuse material and fraud. However, its strict rules, including risk assessments and fines up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue, are causing unintended harm. Small websites are shutting down, unable to cope with the compliance burden.

Examples include:

-LFGSS, a cycling forum with 70,000 members, closed on March 16, 2025, citing liability risks.

-The Hamster Forum and Dads with Kids, niche community sites, also shut down due to the Act’s demands.

These closures fracture valuable communities. LFGSS, for instance, hosted a final bike ride event, showing the real-world connections lost. The Act’s broad approach may be undermining its safety goals. Healthy communities online can create a safer place for many.

Online safety matters, but we need to focus on child online safety education, prevention and awareness that protects the vulnerable without wiping out small, vibrant websites and communities.

Unfortunately, abusers will continue to adapt to each piece of legislation and small communities like the hamster community will pay the price.

The goal should be to prevent all forms of child abuse before it happens and ends up online in the first place. God forbid if abuse happens, online forums and websites should be incentivized to help in the reporting process. The UK solution does neither.