UK Online Safety Act requires prompt content removals Musk's X has resisted.
Credit: mattjeacock | E+
Enforcement of a first-of-its-kind United Kingdom law that Elon Musk wants Donald Trump to gut kicked in today, with potentially huge penalties possibly imminent for any Big Tech companies deemed non-compliant.
UK's Online Safety Act (OSA) forces tech companies to detect and remove dangerous online content, threatening fines of up to 10 percent of global turnover. In extreme cases, widely used platforms like Musk's X could be shut down or executives even jailed if UK online safety regulator Ofcom determines there has been a particularly egregious violation.
Critics call it a censorship bill, listing over 130 "priority" offenses across 17 categories detailing what content platforms must remove. The list includes illegal content connected to terrorism, child sexual exploitation, human trafficking, illegal drugs, animal welfare, and other crimes. But it also broadly restricts content in legally gray areas, like posts considered "extreme pornography," harassment, or controlling behavior.
Matthew Lesh, a public policy fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, told The Telegraph that "the idea that Elon Musk, or any social media executive, could be jailed for failing to remove enough content should send chills down the spine of anyone who cares about free speech."
Musk has publicly signaled that he expects Trump to intervene, saying, "Thank goodness Donald Trump will be president just in time," regarding the OSA's enforcement starting in March, The Telegraph reported last month. The X owner has been battling UK regulators since last summer after resisting requests from the UK government to remove misinformation during riots considered the "worst unrest in England for more than a decade," The Financial Times reported.
According to Musk, X was refusing to censor UK users. Attacking the OSA, Musk falsely claimed Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government was "releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts," FT reported. Such a post, if seen as spreading misinformation potentially inciting violence, could be banned under the OSA, the FT suggested.
Trump’s UK deal may disappoint Musk
Musk hopes that Trump will strike a deal with the UK government to potentially water down the OSA.
In February, in a memo that directly targeted the UK's strict laws, as well as the European Union's, Trump promised to defend US tech companies from strict regulations abroad. Trump accused countries strictly regulating US tech giants of extortion, lobbing fines and charging taxes to "prop up" their "failed foreign economies."
One advocate for the OSA—Andy Burrows, chief executive of online safety charity the Molly Rose Foundation—estimated that the UK could "add £4 billion to the economy every year" by fining tech companies ignoring harmful content, The Independent reported.
Trump claimed that these aggressive laws threatened to stifle the growth or competitiveness of US firms. He specifically threatened to probe UK laws that he determines "undermine freedom of speech and political engagement or otherwise moderate content" like the OSA does.
Although Trump has seemed hesitant to publicly push for changes to the OSA, he's currently in talks with the UK government, which the BBC reported hopes to avoid 25 percent tariffs on aluminum and steel, perhaps by negotiating a loosening of tech regulations. One Republican in Congress anonymously told The Telegraph that officials on Trump's team "hate" the OSA and view it as "Orwellian."
But Trump's deal with the UK may disappoint Musk. At least one UK lawmaker, Angela Eagle, has insisted that the UK "is not planning to offer watering down online safety legislation as part of a deal to exempt the UK from US tariffs," The Independent reported. Eagle said that "no corroboration" is "likely to happen" between UK government and Trump's push to defend "tech bros." And the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson told The Independent that she's not alone in expecting the UK to stand its ground.
"The Online Safety Act is already law," the spokesperson said. "It’s already being implemented, and over the coming months it will introduce strong protections for children in tackling illegal content online."
Rather than water down the OSA, UK officials expect to expand it. Peter Kyle, the technology secretary in the UK parliament, told The Telegraph that a surge in AI-generated CSAM could prompt lawmakers to amend the bill to label even more content illegal.
Despite the UK's apparent hard stance to defend the OSA, Trump has suggested that there's a "very good chance" the US will make a deal with the UK to preserve an allyship that both countries will expect to be critical to maintaining tech dominance.
Ofcom promises “swift action”
Ofcom said that all platforms have until March 31 to send completed risk assessments and should be prepared today "to start implementing appropriate measures to remove illegal material quickly when they become aware of it, and to reduce the risk of ‘priority’ criminal content from appearing in the first place." Those reports will be posted on Ofcom's site to ensure transparency and accountability.
Platforms were asked to make removing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) the top priority after the Internet Watch Foundation flagged the most CSAM in its history last year—uncovering over 290,000 webpages containing CSAM in 2024.
Moving forward, Ofcom will be monitoring compliance, "launching targeted enforcement action where we uncover concerns," their announcement said. Suzanne Cater, Ofcom's enforcement director, previously promised "swift action," and Ofcom appears prepared to deliver on that promise.
"We will not hesitate to open investigations into individual services," Ofcom said, forecasting, "we expect to make additional announcements on formal enforcement action over the coming weeks."
Ofcom chief executive Melanie Dawes told FT that "there will be some [websites] who we need to take strong action against and we’re gearing up for that now so that we can be really fast."
But regarding X's expected compliance, Dawes just said that Ofcom would "make sure that X follows the rules that have been set down in the act" and takes action in 2025 to remove more content that Musk's platform may currently not take down, preferring to merely reduce reach of posts considered "awful but lawful." UK safety advocates have suggested that X may need to build out its child safety team to remove more content, The Telegraph reported.
Ofcom did not respond to Ars' request to comment on whether Ofcom currently has concerns about X or any other big platforms' compliance, only re-sharing information from the press release regarding top priorities as enforcement begins.
"We are initially prioritizing the compliance of sites and apps that may present particular risks of harm from illegal content due to their size or nature—for example because they have a large number of users in the UK, or because their users may risk encountering some of the most harmful forms of online content and conduct," Ofcom's spokesperson said.