One Week of the Online Safety Act: Cyber Experts Weigh In
The conversation around the UK’s Online Safety Act has transformed over the past week. Since it came into force last Friday (25th July 2025), there has been a lot of public outcry, including a petition, which was signed by over 400,000 people, calling for The Act to be scrapped altogether. The UK government has since rejected this idea, with no sign of backing down. In parallel, consumers have scrambled to find work arounds. VPN usage spiked in the UK, with sign-ups to one service surging by more than 1400%. Many are also calling into question the security of the organisations and third-parties that are required to store such sensitive data too. Surprisingly, sites (not necessarily seen as ‘adult’) like Spotify are also asking for users to upload their ID too, which has left people asking where does it end?!
This is a story with many moving parts and things have snowballed over the past week. One could focus on (non-exhaustively) VPNs, the software supply chain security element of third-party ID verification sites or the idea behind its conception (child safety) and still not scratch the surface. Instead, The Gurus asked cybersecurity experts from across the industry to weigh in…
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