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fliptop [soylentnews.org] writes:

Age verification has officially arrived in the UK thanks to the Online Safety Act (OSA) [eff.org], a UK law requiring online platforms to check that all UK-based users are at least eighteen years old before allowing them to access broad categories of “harmful [eff.org]” content that go far beyond graphic sexual content. EFF has extensively criticized the OSA for eroding privacy [eff.org], chilling speech [eff.org], and undermining the safety of the children it aims to protect [eff.org]. Now that it’s gone into effect, these countless problems have begun to reveal themselves, and the absurd, disastrous outcome illustrates why we must work to avoid this age-verified future at all costs [eff.org]:

Perhaps you’ve seen [knowyourmeme.com] the [reddit.com] memes [bsky.app] as large platforms like Spotify [reddit.com] and YouTube [reddit.com] attempt to comply with the OSA, while smaller sites—like forums focused on parenting [archive.org], green living [archive.org], and gaming on Linux [archive.org]—either shut down or cease some operations rather than face massive fines for not following the law’s vague, expensive, and complicated rules and risk assessments.

But even Reddit, a site that prizes anonymity [reddit.com] and has regularly demonstrated its commitment to digital rights, was doomed to fail in its attempt to comply with the OSA. Though Reddit is not alone [nymag.com] in bowing to the UK mandates, it provides a perfect case study and a particularly instructive glimpse of what the age-verified future would look like if we don’t take steps to stop it.

TFA [eff.org] goes on to highlight the details on what's considered "harmful content" (r/rickroll - really?), how this leads to overcensoring, the backlash that ensued, how the age-verification tech doesn't really work, and a warning for what may be coming.

Previously: Online Safety Act Storm Cloud Approaching Rapidly [soylentnews.org]

Related:

• 4Chan Under Investigation by Uk Ofcom Over Online Safety Concerns [soylentnews.org]
• Wikipedia Launches Legal Challenge Against UK Government [soylentnews.org]
• UK's Internet Watchdog Puts Storage and File-Sharing Services on Watch Over CSAM [soylentnews.org]

Original Submission