Defend Online Speech
What’s legal to say should be legal to type. The Online Safety Act and changes to the definition of extremism could change that.
A threat to freedom of expression online
The bloated Online Safety Act contains many risks to free speech – a government regulator shouldn’t control speech online or off. Ofcom is now the official online state speech regulator – appointed and directed by government. They are creating a sprawling bureaucracy to police speech online. Their initial consultation on protecting people from online harms include dozens of complicated documents and hundreds of pages of draft guidance.
The Act’s provisions to block services which refuse to cooperate with the speech regulator’s orders could put household names like Wikipedia and Tumblr in the crosshairs.
ORG will continue to fight for your rights to freedom of expression. Engaging where we can with Ofcom to try and minimize the harms this act will cause to freedom of expression.
Meanwhile, tech giants with the resources to surveil all user content, and comply with the bureaucratic requirements will grow ever stronger.
Prior Restraint
Social media platforms will need to proactively remove content from their platforms, which will severely impact what we see and what we say online. We favour a rights-based approach to making the Internet safer. We’re part of a coalition of free expression organisations meeting with the Government to find a way to address online harms without sacrificing our digital rights.
A dangerous precedent for global censorship
ORG’s response to Ofcom’s Online Safety Act proposals for regulating speech online
Find out moreWhat is prior restraint on online speech?
Removing content from social platforms creates a dangerous threat to free speech
Find out morelegal advice on prior restraint
There are significant issues with the lawfulness of a clause in the Online Safety Bill
Find out moreExtremism Redefined
The Conservative government introduced a new non-statutory definition of extremism with the threat of censor and restriction of public funding will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.
Policy Hub
ILLEGAL CONTENT SAFETY DUTIES
Briefing on how the Online Safety Act threatens democractic expression
Find out moreOnline safety act policy hub
Find out more in our policy papers on the passage of the Online Safety Act
Find out moreKEEP UP TO DATE WITH OUR CAMPAIGNS
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Sign up nowThe Story So Far
The Great British Firewall: Age Verification has Failed
From Friday 25 July 2025, UK Internet users have had to verify their age to use a range of apps and websites – from social media platforms such as X, Reddit and Bluesky to dating apps like Grindr to porn sites such as Pornhub.Save our Sites: Deadline 17 March
Incredible as it may seem, thanks to the Online Safety Act, dozens of harmless, safe, small websites are closing down by 17 March, rather than face threats of fines that could lose their operators their homes.Musk and Zuck: Engineering Free Speech
Under the guise of protecting free speech, an alarming alignment between government power and Big Tech’s corporate power is unfolding.A dangerous precedent for global censorship
ORG responds to Ofcom’s Online Safety Act plans Last week, Open Rights Group responded to Ofcom’s Illegal Harms consultation, the first of a series of consultations Ofcom will be holding on the development of its guidance for the Online Safety Act.Small Boats and Silent Protest: Prior Restraint in the Online Safety Bill
Under new rules created by the Online Safety Bill, all illegal content must be removed from social media platforms.Online Safety Act: A Danger to Democracy
The campaign group, Republic have called for an investigation into the arrest of eight of their members, including Chief Executive Graham Smith, ahead of the organisation’s planned protest of the King’s coronation.More Information
15 May, 2025
Free expression online
Online Safety Act: A Guide for Organisations Working with the Act
This document is intended as a full overview of the Online Safety Act (OSA, or the Act) and how it works for organisations attempting to understand it and its implications.
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15 May, 2025
Free expression online
How to Fix the Online Safety Act: A Rights First Approach
In this report, we analyse the Online Safety Act (OSA or ‘the Act’) 2023, which imposes new duties on online service providers to protect children from harmful content, and Ofcom’s guidance to compliance with these duties.
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18 April, 2023
Policy briefing – Online Safety Bill – House of Lords Committee Stage
CIVIL SOCIETY COMMITTEE STAGE BRIEFING ON THE ONLINE SAFETY BILL FOR HOUSE OF LORDS: ILLEGAL CONTENT SAFETY DUTIES AND PRIOR RESTRAINT – Supported by Wikimedia UK, Index on Censorship, and Open Rights Group.
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16 March, 2023
Campaign Pack – Online Safety Bill
A guide for ORG supporters and activists who want to take action to protect their digital rights from the Online Safety Bill
Campaign Pack on the Online Safety Bill for ORG campaignersAuthor – James Baker – james.
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05 January, 2023
The Online Safety Bill – Sector Support Roundtable
In September 2022, Open Rights Group convened a discussion between privacy and data protection experts and other civil society professionals exploring the nexus between privacy, protection from online abuse and freedom of expression.
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29 June, 2022
Submission to Parliament on Online Safety Bill
SUBMISSION TO PARLIAMENT Addressing automated, arbitrary, algorithmic censorship in the Online Safety BillJune 2022
Contents
About Open Rights Group 2
Addressing automated, arbitrary algorithmic censorship 2
Our concerns and recommendations 2
Summary 3
Automated censorship and arbitrary restrictions 4
Content moderation systems 5
Arbitrary restrictions 6
Why prevent has a special meaning (prior restraint) 9
Hands, face, age-gate 9
Ministerial powers to interfere with speech 10
Chat controls, to do lists and the spy in the your pocket 11
User Dis- Empowerment 13
Rights for online speech 13
Procedural safeguards and effective remedies 15
User experiences of restrictive content moderation measures 15
Procedural safeguards against arbitrary take-downs 16
About Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group (ORG) is the leading UK-based digital campaigning organisation.
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27 April, 2022
Online Safety Bill Second Reading briefing
ORG analysis and highlights concerning the Online Safety Bill and its adverse impact on human rights and the free internet
About Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group (ORG) is the leading UK-based digital campaigning organisation.
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07 February, 2022
Experts challenge Govt’s anti-encryption campaign
Leading cybersecurity experts and human rights activists say scaremongering tactics being used to mislead the public and make bogus case for weakening encryption.
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30 May, 2019
Collateral Damage in the War Against Online Harms
A summary of this report is also available on Top10 VPN’s website here.
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23 May, 2019
ORG policy responses to Online Harms White Paper
Open Rights Group (ORG) is a UK-based digital campaigning organisation working to protect fundamental rights to privacy and free speech online.
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Press Releases
15 May, 2025
Online Safety Act Entrenches Big Tech Market Dominance, New Report Finds
A new report by digital campaigners, the Open Rights Group, outlines how the Online Safety Act favours big tech, and harms small websites and the general public.
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08 May, 2024
Online Safety proposals could cause new harms warns Open Rights Group
Ofcom’s consultation on safeguarding children online exposes significant problems regarding the proposed implementation of age-gating measures.
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14 March, 2024
Extremism guidance attacks our freedom of expression
Open Rights Group has responded to the government’s announcement that it will update the definition of extremism used by government departments and officials.
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12 July, 2021
Privacy Campaigners condemn the Government for abdicating their responsibility
Responding to racist comments that were directed towards several England players following the team’s loss on penalties against Italy in the EURO 2020 final, Heather Burns, Policy Manager at the Open Rights Group, said:
“Illegal racial abuse sent to England’s footballers must be prosecuted under existing laws.
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14 June, 2021
ORG join over thirty digital and human rights organisations in calling on MPs to protect end-to-end encryption
Over thirty digital and human rights organisations call on MPs to keep their constituents safe by protecting end-to-end encryption from legislative threats
Today (14 June) Open Rights Group has joined over thirty digital and human rights organisations in calling on MPs to keep their constituents safe by protecting end-to-end encryption from legislative threats.
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12 May, 2021
Government’s Kafkaesque plans for regulating online speech is condemned
Responding to the Online Safety Bill, Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group said:
“Treating online speech as inherently dangerous and demanding that risks are eliminated under the threat of massive fines is only going to end up in over-reaction and content removal.
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09 December, 2020
Privacy Campaigners warn Government against stopping FB messenger Encryption
Privacy Campaigners warn the Government against seeking injunction to halt Facebook’s Encryption plans
Responding to reports that Government could issue injunction against Facebook’s encryption plans, Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group said:
“Encryption is a vital tool to help people protect their personal messages.
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12 March, 2020
Online Harms Regulation Threatens Free Speech
Appointing state regulator for online speech creates censorship incentives: ‘duty of care’ is vague and an undefined concept
Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group said:
“This is a dangerous proposal that could cause vast restrictions on free speech.
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01 July, 2019
Online Harms White Paper – ‘Duty of care not the right approach’ experts agree
This call, made jointly by the Oxford Internet Institute (part of the University of Oxford), Open Rights Group, The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec), Global Partners Digital and Index on Censorship, responds to the government’s Online Harms White Paper.
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08 April, 2019
DCMS publishes White Paper on Internet Safety and Online Harm
The White Paper focuses heavily on the duties of social media platforms to police user-generated content.
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