Petition to repeal UK’s new Online Safety Act passes 300,000 signatures
The UK Online Safety Act has introduced age checks for a wide range of websites, not just porn sites (Getty)
The UK Online Safety Act has introduced age checks for a wide range of websites, not just porn sites (Getty)
More than 300,000 people have now signed a petition to repeal the new Online Safety Act, meaning the UK parliament is now required to consider this subject for a debate.
The legislation came into force on Friday (25 July), requiring, among other measures, UK residents to verify their age, by uploading photo ID or a picture of themself, for “facial age estimation”, before being able to access pornography websites or other content that could be seen as harmful to children.
Websites that fail to provide such checks could face hefty fines.
By Monday (28 July), a petition calling for the law to be repealed had been signed some 338,000 times.
‘Far broader and restrictive than is necessary’
The petition, hosted on the official UK parliament website, states: “We believe that the scope of the Online Safety Act is far broader and restrictive than is necessary in a free society. For instance, the definitions in Part Two cover online hobby forums, which we think do not have the resources to comply so are shutting down instead.
“We think 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.”
Concerns over the impact and effectiveness of the legislation increased as the changes approached.
Ofcom, the regulator that oversees TV, radio and the internet in the UK, has said platforms must not host, share or permit content encouraging the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass age checks, adding that parents should be aware of how these can be used to get around the legislation.
A spokesperson from Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, told the BBC: “We do not recommend that anyone uses technology to bypass the law.”
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