The UK’s Online Safety Act came into force this week and has wreaked enormous havoc. Entire forums, websites, communities, and important journalistic content are being censored. Users are being forced to scan their faces to use apps like Spotify and YouTube.
Like all such terrible censorship laws, the Online Safety Act claims to protect children from the dangers of pornographic and adult content. However, immediately after it came into force, platforms began classifying almost all breaking news, war reports, investigative journalism, political protest materials, and information on reproductive and public health as “explicit” or “harmful” content, thus denying access to it to anyone under 18.
Taylor Lorenz explains the consequences of the UK’s Online Safety Act, its significance for the future of the internet, and what we in the US face if we don’t act quickly to protect free speech online.