England's Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, has told a House of Lords committee that children say the Online Safety Act has made "absolutely no difference" to their ability to access harmful content, more than a year after its key child protection duties took effect. Speaking at the opening evidence session of the Lords Communications and Digital Committee's inquiry into the Act, she criticised its focus on moderating content rather than tackling harmful platform design, and said there was no evidence it had meaningfully changed how social media firms operate, contrasting this with recent US legal pressure that pushed Meta towards child safety concessions.

De Souza pointed to Meta's proposed $18 billion US settlement, which would introduce two-hour daily limits for under-18s on Facebook and Instagram, anti-scrolling prompts, restrictions during school hours and at night, and the option to opt out of algorithmic feeds, arguing the OSA had "not been flexible enough" to keep pace. She also revealed Ofcom had refused to share tech companies' safety risk assessments with her, despite her safeguarding role, and said she would use statutory powers to compel disclosure while asking the committee for support, citing section 393(1) of the Communications Act 2003 as the legal obstacle. She said Ofcom needed to "use its teeth," while acknowledging its recent action on the Grok "nudifying" controversy and pornography age-verification investigations.