(LifeSiteNews) — A growing number of social media users are worried that the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) is being used to restrict access to the massively popular Bible Gateway website.
The OSA was passed in 2023 with the purported aim of making Britain the “safest place in the world to be online.” Among other things, the ominous-sounding measure seeks to prevent minors from accessing X-rated websites as well as prohibiting the spread of misinformation, terrorism, child abuse, and similar unsavory content.
On Thursday, dozens of users on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X shared screen shots that seemed to suggest they were being prevented from visiting the website due to the OSA.
“If you ever needed proof this legislation was a Trojan horse and our government is diametrically opposed to our nation’s Christian values and heritage here it is,” Brett Murphy, an Anglican cleric living in the UK, argued. “The ‘online safety act’ has been used to block the website ‘Bible gateway’ a Web page that has multiple bible translations and commentaries available for free.
If you ever needed proof this legislation was a Trojan horse and our government is diametrically opposed to our nation’s Christian values and heritage here it is. The ‘online safety act’ has been used to block the website ‘Bible gateway’ a Web page that has multiple bible… pic.twitter.com/CKJmYntpLP
— Rev’d Canon Brett Murphy ✝️ 🙏 🇬🇧 (@RevBrettMurphy) September 18, 2025
X user Rikki Doolan, who is based in London, also expressed outrage at the apparent censorship.
WHAT?! The BIBLE GATEWAY the most popular online Bible website/app in the world, which is used by millions and millions of Christian’s around the world to find Bible verses bas been removed in the UK due to the ONLINE SAFETY ACT.
It must be RESTORED immediately! @Keir_Starmer pic.twitter.com/BCOYUHcvC8
— Rikki Doolan (@realrikkidoola
But their anger seems to be misplaced.
According to a story published by Premier Christian News on September 10, Bible Gateway issued a statement to its British-based visitors explaining that its services are currently unavailable in the UK and the European Union because of “technical issues.”
Tom Harwood, deputy political editor of GB News in the UK, also seemed to believe visitors were being blocked due to a tech issue.
“This (is) probably GDPR rather than the Online Safety Act but just another little way in which the free open international internet I grew up with is becoming regionally segmented,” he said in an X post.
I was wanting to read some bible (as you do) and found that Bible Gateway is blocked in the EU and UK.
This probably GDPR rather than the Online Safety Act, but just another little way in which the free open international internet I grew up with is becoming regionally segmented. pic.twitter.com/z0CE471KVS
— Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) September 15, 2025
GDPR is an acronym for General Data Protection Regulation. GDRP laws govern personal data handling, user consent agreements, and breach notifications. They are aimed at protecting citizens’ information, not censoring them.
Still, Tim Hinchliffe wrote an essay for The Sociable this past August warning that the Online Safety Act could be turned into a weaponized “internet passport” to crack down on the free flow of information.
“With the enactment of the Online Safety Act (OSA), which also claims to protect children, everyone must submit to an internet passport check when accessing social media and other large user-to-user services, which the bill refers to as Category 1 services,” he argued.
“Like with the EU, we see that this is not aimed at just allegedly protecting children – this is also aimed at adults. The bill uses Orwellian doublespeak with phrases like ‘Adults will have more control over the content they see,’ which actually means that adults will see what the algorithms nudge them to see.”
Bible Gateway is owned by Evangelical publishing house Zondervan, which is a subsidiary of HarperCollins. It is believed to be the most visited Christian website in the world. Founded in 1993, the site allows visitors to “read, hear, search, study, compare, and share the Bible in more than 200 different versions and more than 70 languages, using their desktops, laptops, tablets, e-readers, or smartphones.”
