According to the Open Rights Group the UK ‘Online Safety Act’ (OSA) harms freedom of speech in the UK. Read their article Save our Sites: Deadline 17 March, that starts with:

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. Other websites, based outside of the UK, are likely to stop UK users from accessing their services, to avoid liability, through “geo-blocking”. (…)

This is the inevitable result of dragging literally any website, including (probably by mistake) personal blogs with comments, into the Online Safety regime.

The explainer by the UK government shows the broad scope (marking by me):

The Act’s duties apply to search services and services that allow users to post content online or to interact with each other. This includes a range of websites, apps and other services, including social media services, consumer file cloud storage and sharing sites, video-sharing platforms, online forums, dating services, and online instant messaging services.

The Act applies to services even if the companies providing them are outside the UK should they have links to the UK. This includes if the service has a significant number of UK users, if the UK is a target market, or it is capable of being accessed by UK users and there is a material risk of significant harm to such users.

As the British are often the first with unwise and fundamental rights violating regulations, European vigilance is needed

Information on OSA

• UK government: page on legislation.gov.uk; explainer on gov.uk; Ofcom: Enforcing the Online Safety Act: Scrutinising illegal harms risk assessments
• Guide by the Online Safety Act Network
• Wikipedia page
• Security.nl article (Dutch)