UK's Online Safety Act Forces Reddit to Block Sensitive Forums; Lobbying Traces Link Meta Money to Age Verification Scams
The Online Safety Act in the UK is forcing platforms like Reddit to implement age verification, directly resulting in the blocking of sensitive communities covering public health and LGBTQ+ topics.
Commenters split sharply on the data presented regarding this. Some, like TropicalDingdong, screamed the lobbying/grant data might be 'AI slop' and demanded manual validation of raw PDFs. Others, like a4ng3l, insisted the underlying findings about corporate money funneled through grants are significant enough to point to systemic capture. Furthermore, users directed attention to specific financial tracking databases like Followthemoney.org.
The palpable consensus is that large sums of money—up to $2 billion in tracked grants—are being methodically moved to push invasive age verification laws, with the immediate fallout showing platforms censoring everyday, non-explicit content to avoid fines.
Key Points
The UK's Online Safety Act is causing content censorship on major platforms.
streetfestival detailed how the OSA forced Reddit to implement age checks, blocking support forums like r/periods and LGBTQ+ spaces.
The data tracking massive grants suggests systemic corporate influence in legislation.
decended_being directed users to repositories showing records of $2 billion in non-profit grants used in lobbying efforts.
The source data compiling the lobbying records is potentially unreliable.
TropicalDingdong warned the compiled data might be 'AI slop' and insisted users manually verify the underlying PDFs.
The connection between money, lobbying, and invasive tech is more structural than simple correlation.
TropicalDingdong suggested the links involve 'complex elements beyond simple data correlation,' pointing to structural finance.
The entire process constitutes a modern surveillance framework.
hoshikarakitaridia argued these political actions make advocates susceptible to the same data profiling they promote, calling it 'Big Brother'.
Source Discussions (3)
This report was synthesized from the following Lemmy discussions, ranked by community score.