Trying to fix a broken system by tinkering won't achieve online safety.
The issue? The Internet is centralised in the hands of a few tech behemoths.
Simply adding new rules while harms evolve around them is a losing battle.
We must build something better.
Read our latest blog ⬇️
#onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #bigtech #ageverification #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol
Lob off one head, two more appear.
This is because online harms are an emergent property of the domination of Big Tech.
Attention capture revs the engine of targeted advertising that powers the beast.
New rules from age gating to content scanning are directed at the user, not the business model.
#onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #bigtech #ageverification #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol
Design interventions alone can't significantly improve safety if the market rewards behaviours and outcomes that generate harm.
Large companies can absorb the cost of new rules. Smaller services often can't.
This reduces competition and locks people into dominant platforms that feed off its users.
#onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #bigtech #ageverification #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol
Age verification makes people create profiles on platforms.
For porn sites, this means tying a specific user to algorithmic profiles. It enables customised porn feeds that are designed to keep them on the platform for longer.
It also exposes people more to data breaches and advertising networks.
#onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #bigtech #ageverification #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol
Proposals to expand age checks to VPNs and features like infinite-scrolling for UK users makes things worse.
The result is more personal data swilling around in tech firms and a permanent expansion of tracking infrastructure.
For VPNs, we're told to discard privacy for supposed 'safety'.
It makes no sense.
#onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #bigtech #ageverification #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol #vpn
The UK government is fattening the power of Big Tech, giving them greater control over our data.
With Palantir's Peter Thiel involved in age verification, we can't ignore how surveillance tech moves between military, intelligence and commercial markets.
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#onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #bigtech #ageverification #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol #palantir
The approach to online safety is flawed.
We need a rights-based approach that challenges the dominance of Big Tech, not one that embeds permanent monitoring by requiring ID to access information and services.
Tell your MP to fix the UK Online Safety Act ⬇️
https://action.openrightsgroup.org/tell-your-mp-online-safety-act-isn%E2%80%99t-working
#onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #bigtech #ageverification #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol
What's the problem? The Online Safety Act has been a disaster. Rather than protect children, millions of adults are facing widespread censorship, and teenagers are having their freedom of expression restricted. Here are some of the key problems with the law: Wrongful Censorship: The law places huge liabilities and threats of jail on platforms if they don't censor the right content. It does little to protect freedom of expression. The results are in. Footage of protest censored on X. Subreddits about stopping smoking, sexual health, and the news age-gated and shadow-banned.
Open Rights Group
Mark Dixon
Jim Killock