Page 10 - Kattison Avenue - Fall 2025 - Issue 15

Toward a Safer Internet: Laws, Limits and the Fight to Enforce Them

By Terry Green and Larry Wong

A global trend is emerging — governments are doing more to proactively implement online safety regimes. The United Kingdom’s
Online Safety Act (OSA) has led by example, with the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and New York’s Stop Hiding
Hate Act echoing that momentum, each using different tools with a shared ambition to protect users online. However, the real test
is extraterritorial — can duties imposed on digital platforms translate across borders into tangible outcomes?

The United Kingdom’s Approach — The Online Safety Act (OSA)

The OSA applies to online services with user-to-user functionalities or search engine functionalities that have “links to the UK.” It
sets out a framework of duties to protect users from illegal harms and protect children from harmful content through detailing risk
assessments, safety measures, and adequate complaints and reporting tools. Additional duties are also imposed on “categorised
services” with (depending on the criteria) more than 34 million or 7 million monthly users in the United Kingdom. It is estimated
that over 100,000 sites are in scope of the OSA, and noncompliance may result in fines of up to £18 million or 10 percent of global
turnover, as well as access restrictions and criminal sanctions.

Koshiro K/Shutterstock.com
The European Union’s Framework — The Digital Services Act (DSA)

The DSA applies across the European Union to a tiered set of intermediary service providers — including hosting providers,
marketplaces, online platforms and designated, very large online platforms/services that have more than 45 million users per
month in the European Union annually. The DSA imposes core safe-harbour principles while requiring due diligence, transparency
reporting, risk assessments and mitigation measures proportionate to the service’s size, reach and risk profile. The DSA also
focuses on the use of reporting tools and trusted community flaggers to identify and remove harmful content. Breaches under the
DSA may result in fines of 6 percent of global turnover.

10 Kattison Avenue | Fall 2025