Center for Online Safety and Liberty (COSL)

The Center for Online Safety and Liberty (COSL) is a California-based s.501(c)(3) nonprofit acting as the parent entity for what the organization describes as "multiple independent projects aligned with our mission, to empower individuals and communities to thrive online by building safer spaces, fostering creativity, combating harm, and championing digital rights and freedom." The organization’s Chair, Jeremy Malcolm, is a human rights lawyer and past Executive Director of the Prostasia Foundation.

In 2025, the group launched the flagship publication for its "Drawing the Line Project." The 62-page report can be read here. As the authors describe it,

The Drawing the Line Watchlist 2025 addresses the escalating tension between global efforts to combat Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and the preservation of fundamental democratic rights, namely privacy and freedom of expression.

The core finding of the Watchlist is the identification of a dangerous legislative trend: the blurring of the essential legal distinction between content that records or causes concrete harm to real children, and content that is purely fictional, artistic, or imaginative. By treating fictional works — such as drawings or stories that evoke taboo themes — the same as evidence of real abuse under the single umbrella term of CSAM, the global response is expanding state power and sacrificing core liberties.

The Watchlist presents "a comprehensive analysis of the legislative frameworks, case law, policy debates, and enforcement practices in ten countries — Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Iran, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States."

Using data gathered by a team of researchers using Freedom of Information requests, show that the United Kingdom is one of the most severe prosecutors of purely fictional content. Their data shows that prosecutions for real “child sexual abuse images” in the UK have fallen by more than half since 2017, while cases involving purely fictional or AI-generated material have surged to nearly 40% of all image offences.

The report ends its executive summary by stating:

Our recommendations are simple but urgent. Law enforcement must return its focus to real cases of abuse. Fictional and artistic works, when regulated at all, belong in the hands of classification boards, educators, and public-health agencies — not the criminal courts. Language, statistics, and policy must draw a line between personal expression and lived abuse.

As of 2026, the nonprofit's current Priority Areas are:

• Safer Hosting: Maintaining online spaces that are safer both for users and for creators.
• Supporting Fans: Promoting self-expression, creativity, and connection in fan communities.
• Cyberbullying and Abuse: Treating online abuse as a preventable public health issue.
• Legal Advocacy: Standing up for the human rights of freedom of expression and privacy online.

See also

• Drawing the Line: Watchlist 2025

• Tom O'Carroll, Fictional ‘abuse’ goes through the roof (HereticTOC, December 13, 2025).