Open Rights GroupApr 24, 2025

With over 1600 pages of guidance on Online Safety duties, Ofcom (UK) has dealt a sucker punch to small blogs, forums and fedi instances.

Onerous duties with the threat of fines has led to many sites shutting down already.

Only the largest companies that engineer harms can realistically comply.

#SaveOurSites

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/24/ofcom-rules-protect-keep-children-safe-online

#onlinesafetyact #ofcom #onlinesafety #netplurality #freedomofexpression #fediverse #mastodon #ukpolitics #ukpol

Ofcom announces new rules for tech firms to keep children safe online

Companies will be legally required to block children’s access to harmful content under UK’s Online Safety Act or face large fines

The Guardian
Show threadOpen Rights GroupApr 24, 2025

Net plurality gives us choice and voice on the Internet, so communities of interest can grow with user-driven moderation.

Online Safety duties will put community groups off small web projects and entrench the power of Big Tech who have the resources to deal with so much regulation.

#SaveOurSites

#onlinesafetyact #ofcom #onlinesafety #fediverse #netplurality #freedomofexpression #mastodon #ukpolitics #ukpol

Show threadOpen Rights Group

We need to break down the monopoly walled gardens.

Online safety can come from people freely choosing platforms that respect their privacy and align with their values.

Taking active steps to force small sites to shut down or block UK users plays into the hands of monopoly control of the Internet.

#SaveOurSites

#onlinesafetyact #ofcom #onlinesafety #netplurality #freedomofexpression #fediverse #mastodon #ukpolitics #ukpol

Apr 24, 2025 at 10:00amWeb
Show threadOpen Rights GroupApr 24, 2025

Competition makes for a safer Internet.

We urge UK Ministers to exempt small community sites that are at little risk of hosting harmful content and not force them to collapse under the weight of disproportionate duties.

Write to your MP to #SaveOurSites ⬇️

https://action.openrightsgroup.org/save-our-sites-write-your-mp

#onlinesafetyact #onlinesafety #ofcom #netplurality #freedomofexpression #fediverse #mastodon #ukpolitics #ukpol

Save our sites - Write to your MP

Small UK websites, user-to-user services and even computer games that are completely safe and well managed, are faced with difficult paperwork, risks assessments, registration and fines thanks to the Online Safety Act. Even personal blogs with comments are forced to undergo these difficult tests and compliance tasks. Getting it wrong or ignoring them could cost an operator their house – as fines can be imposed for failing to do them. As a result, many small websites in the UK are deciding to close down.

Open Rights Group
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Apr 24, 2025

@openrightsgroup I already wrote to my MP about this last month and he has not replied....

#Labour #UKPOL #UKpolitics

Show threadChewieApr 24, 2025
@Lazarou @openrightsgroup same :(
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Apr 24, 2025
@chewie @openrightsgroup not feeling like we're in a democracy much right now, not even an "we received your email" letter or anything, just silence.
Show threadChewieApr 24, 2025
@Lazarou @openrightsgroup yeah, I bet they get loads of identical emails from online surveys, so it's not particularly surprising, but I'd customised it and everything 😢
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Apr 24, 2025

@chewie @openrightsgroup I've used campaign templates before and had replies on Westminster letterheads. Labour just don't give a fuck about us 'little people' those leaked Whatsapp messages told us all we need to know about how they view us.

I don't want to go into personal detail with these letters to MPs because I'm afraid they will mock me for it on their whatsapp groups, that's the state of Democracy we have here.

Are we so different to the US?

#UKPOL #UKPolitics

Show threadLightApr 24, 2025
@Lazarou
What leaked WhatsApp messages?
@chewie @openrightsgroup
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Apr 24, 2025
@light @chewie @openrightsgroup the ones from some NE England Labour Party that involved wishing death on a cyclist who sent in a letter about bicycle lanes, some resigned over it
Show threadLightApr 24, 2025
@chewie
Mine didn't even come from an online survey. I wrote it from scratch and sent it from my personal email.
@Lazarou @openrightsgroup
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Apr 24, 2025
@light @chewie @openrightsgroup and politicians wonder why people are just giving up?
Show threadThe Vampire Fish QueenApr 24, 2025
@Lazarou @chewie @openrightsgroup The ORG and others really need to do a legal challenge and judicial review soon.
Show threadLightApr 24, 2025
@Lazarou
Same here (Plaid Cymru)
@openrightsgroup