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   Over 340,000 Brits want to repeal the UK Online Safety Act  here's how to get   
   your say   
      
   Date:   
   Mon, 28 Jul 2025 17:29:44 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   The petition to scrap new age verification rules under the UK Online Safety   
   Act has garnered over 340,000 signatures so far.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   A petition to repeal the UK Online Safety Act has garnered over 340,000   
   signatures in just a few days after strict new age verification requirements   
   came into force.    
      
   Starting from Friday, July 25, 2025, all platforms displaying adult content   
   must verify that all their users are over 18 years old via robust age checks.   
   Social media, gaming services, and dating apps are also required to shield   
   minors from harmful content via similar checks.    
      
   These requirements have sparked concerns among politicians, digital rights   
   experts, and technologists who fear that invasive ID checks could lead to    
   data breaches, surveillance, and free speech limitations. The petition has    
   now crossed 100,000 and so will be considered for debate.The next steps   
   are-Contact your MP, ask them to be at any debate- Explain YOUR issues with   
   the act, my reasons for starting it are probably different than yours for   
   signing it- Keep signing pic.twitter.com/EkYqBdH2AN July 25, 2025    
      
   "We believe that the scope of the Online Safety Act is far broader and   
   restrictive than is necessary in a free society," reads the petition created   
   by Alex Baynham, a Londoner who launched a new independent party, Build, in   
   December last year.    
      
   "We think that Parliament should repeal the act and work towards producing   
   proportionate legislation rather than risking clamping down on civil society   
   talking about trains, football, video games, or even hamsters because it    
   can't deal with individual bad faith actors."    
      
   While the UK Parliament must consider for debate any petition that gets more   
   than 100,000 signatures, Baynham encourages anyone concerned to have their   
   say.    
      
   To do so, you should sign the petition, contact your MP, and explain the   
   reason you are worried. The deadline is October 22, 2025. Yet, considering    
   the huge response, a debate may be arranged way before that.   
      
   Age verification -- what are the risks and how to stay safe   
      
   The new rules certainly come as a way to stop children from accessing   
   inappropriate and dangerous content online. Yet, age checks also come with   
   significant risks for people's privacy, security, and other rights like free   
   speech and access to information.    
      
   You now need to be ready to scan your face, credit card, or ID document if    
   you want to access some content on X, Reddit, or Bluesky in the UK. The same   
   goes if you want to play a new over-18 video game, find a new match on a   
   dating app, or watch a video reserved for adults only.    
      
   This involves you trusting these service providers to take good care of this   
   highly sensitive data. Something that, as the recent Tea app hack shows,    
   isn't always possible. A data breach of this magnitude could expose millions   
   of Brits to identity stolen, fraud, and other dangers.    
      
   Similarly, some experts also argue that getting rid of online anonymity could   
   lead to higher surveillance by leaving such data access vulnerable to abuse.    
      
   Experts also fear the new rules could lead to higher censorship as platforms   
   are now required to delete or block all content defined as harmful. A virtual   
   private network (VPN) is security software that encrypts all your internet   
   connections and spoofs your real IP address.   
      
   Despite the UK's regulator, Ofcom, suggesting against it, Britons have been   
   turning to the best VPN apps en masse to avoid giving up their most precious   
   data to access a website.    
      
    Proton VPN , for example, saw a surge in sign-ups, recording an hourly   
   increase of over 1,400% starting from Friday at midnight.    
      
   Talking to TechRadar, a Proton spokesperson said: "This clearly shows that   
   adults are concerned about the impact universal age verification laws will   
   have on their privacy."   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/over-340-000-brits-want-to-   
   repeal-the-uk-online-safety-act-heres-how-to-get-your-say   
      
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