sorry if i'm gonna be quiet for a while. my country recently introduced laws that make it so that in order to use social media to the fullest (not being able to view ns/fw content and in a few cases, not even having access to dms), i HAVE to give the sites my id/face scan.
it goes into effect july 25th. it'll probably effect here too, since this place allows mature content (tho not full on ns/fw)
i'm very distressed about it bc i might end up not even being able to talk to my internet friends. i don't really have any irl ones
if i have to disappear on most socials by then, you know why.
if you're in the uk like i am there IS a petition to sign on the official gov petitions website asking to consider repealing this law. it currently has almost 8k signatures and needs 10k in order for the government to even acknowledge it (and 100k for them to debate it)
idk if i can post it here but please... go sign it! and go write to your local mp if possible. they need to realize how dangerous this law is going to be for uk citizens online. it doesn't protect children, it's just privacy invading AND a huge security risk to boot
and if you are NOT in the uk, spread the word around! especially let your uk moots know about this!
i should've said this before but the law is called the online safety act 2023. look it up, educate yourself about what it does, and learn about just how damaging it will be to the internet landscape as a whole for uk citizens everywhere, as well as, ironically, incredibly unsafe for everyone
it's like those internet laws that the us keeps trying to push in, but the uk somehow beat them. it got almost no coverage from the media bc the gov was super sneaky about passing it through, and there were very few people speaking out about it. they KNOW that if the public knows about this overall, many would be extremely unhappy. absolutely foul.
AND the gov is thinking about adding even more social media 'safety' rules on top of that, such as like... curfews and limiting amount of time spent on social media for 'kids' (so basically anyone who doesn't id verify, which will be a lot of people bc it's a huge security hazard and invasive to boot). insane.
kids won't be protected by this. they'll be encouraged to do more risky behaviours as a result (such as stealing ids, or going to shadier, less monitored parts of the web). parents shouldn't be letting the internet baby their children - they should be actively making sure they're okay and safe, rather than blaming the internet every time something has happened. sometimes it IS the parents' fault for not being more attentive, yknow? you wanted kids, now raise them properly!
petition is now at 9k! 1k more and then the gov will HAVE to respond (though i imagine their response will be 'tough sh!t, we're not backing down bc waaahhh the CHILDREN')
signatures are slowing down for the time being unfortunately so even if it reaches that goal, don't stop sharing, signing, or letting your mp know how bad this law is!
the petition is VERY close to 10k! which is great!
however, this has only just begun, as the gov will likely double down on their decision bc 'the children!!!', so please, if you want to make sure kids and adults alike don't get harmed by this ill thought out law,
keep signing, keep sharing, contact your mps, and make them aware that this will NOT work. get it to 100k! that way they will have to consider it up for debate
in other news, reddit is the next site after bsky and discord to announce that they are complying with this act, instead of challenging it by shutting down services for the uk. wtf.
the petition in question:
We want the Government to repeal the Online Safety act.
UK folks: sign the fuck out of it. everyone else: spread the fuck out of it
