Big Tech takes a beating as online safety experts accuse companies of doing bare minimum
Accessing banned content is as easy as whipping out a thesaurus, Parliament's Communications and Digital Committee hears
Online safety experts are criticizing big technology companies for doing just enough to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act, but failing to meet the needs of vulnerable individuals. Google, Microsoft, Meta, and ByteDance have come under fire for their inconsistent approach to downranking harmful content. Clare McGlynn, a professor of law at Durham University, pointed out that terms like "unwilling porn" can be found on the first few search results, while terms like "rape porn" are heavily downranked.
She argued that companies should take a more systematic approach to minimize the risk of harmful material appearing. Alexandra Whiston-Dew suggested that search engines must do more to detect and downrank or block illegal content early in the chain of publication. Experts also noted that tech platforms initially showed strong enthusiasm in handling content-takedown requests, but this has significantly decreased.
Citing data from the charity Refuge, Janaya Walker stated that the success rate for content-takedown requests dropped to just 18.2% since November 2025, compared to 53.7% before then. Meta was not immediately available to comment on its takedown rate, but removed 27.8 million posts related to adult nudity and sexual activity in the first quarter of 2026.
The findings highlight concerns about the Online Safety Act's effectiveness and the need for stronger measures to protect users from online harms.
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