Comment by gnfargbl
1 day ago
The OSA is already written such that only very large sites are potentially caught by the most onerous rules (at least 7 million MAU for Category 1; at least 3 million MAU for Category 2B). Smaller sites are automatically exempted.
This isn't to say that the OSA is a universally good thing, or that smaller sites won't be affected by it. However, this request for judicial review wasn't looking to carve out any special cases for specific large sites in favour of smaller sites.
>Smaller sites are automatically exempted.
No, they're not. I don't know why people keep repeating this "7 million active users limit" idea, it's nowhere to be found in the actual rules. Tiny forums have already had to close because they didn't want to deal with the legal risk:
https://onlinesafetyact.co.uk/in_memoriam/
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/onli...
Page 64 defines a Large Service as "A service which has more than 7 million monthly active United Kingdom users".
The first two forums in your "in memoriam" list I tried looking at (Sinclair QL Forum & Red Passion Forum) are both still up.
The category thresholds are very clearly spelled out in a Statutory Instrument [1]. This is surely the "actual rules" by any definition. The thresholds are exactly as I stated.
If some smaller sites have made the individual decision that the residual parts of the OSA expose them to sufficient legal risk that they must close, that's really a matter for them. I would hope that they actually checked [2] the level of risk before taking any decision.
[1] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/226/contents/made
[2] https://ofcomlive.my.salesforce-sites.com/formentry/Regulati...