#online-safety-act

#online-safety-act

letting users spoof IP addresses from other countries so that the checks never appear in the first place. The BBC reported a few days after the law came into effect that five of the top 10 free apps on the iOS App Store were VPNs. WindscribeVPN shared data showing a spike in its user figures, NordVPN claimed a 1,000 percent increase in purchases that weekend, and ProtonVPN reported an even higher 1,800 percent increase in UK signups over the same period.

Addressing the case publicly for the first time, Bill Ready - who became Pinterest's boss in 2022 - said he thought about her "every day" and learning the lessons of her death "guides our work". "As a parent of a young daughter, I can't imagine the pain Molly's family feels," he told the BBC. Pinterest has previously acknowledged the platform was not safe at the time of Molly's death. A hearing in 2022 was told that when she first used the platform she was exposed to a wide variety of content but in the months before she took her life that content was much more focussed on depression, self-harm and suicide.

The federal court ordered Anthony Rotondo, also known as Antonio, to pay a $343,500 penalty plus costs on Friday after the online regulator eSafety Commissioner brought a case against him almost two years ago. Rotondo admitted to posting the images on a website called MrDeepFakes.com, which has since been shut down. The regulator had argued a significant civil penalty was needed to reflect the seriousness of the Online Safety Act breaches and the damaging impact the image-based abuse had on the women targeted.

Australia's eSafety Commissioner has written to GitHub to ask it to consider if it's a social network that endangers children. The reason for the cyber-safety regulator's correspondence is Australia's imminent requirement that some social media platforms restrict access to Australian residents under 16 years of age, on the grounds that such services can be harmful to children. The ban on providing service to kids under 16 starts on December 10th,

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.

UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer cleared out the officials in charge of tech and digital law in a dramatic cabinet reshuffle at the weekend. Former work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall has replaced Peter Kyle as science, innovation and technology secretary and will take over responsibility for the controversial Online Safety Act, which has drawn criticism with regard to privacy and censorship. Starmer was forced into the reshuffle after Angela Rayner resigned as deputy PM amid a media frenzy over her tax affairs - specifically, she underpaid stamp duty on a property.

"4chan is a United States company, incorporated in Delaware, with no establishment, assets, or operations in the United Kingdom. Any attempt to impose or enforce a penalty against 4chan will be resisted in US federal court. American businesses do not surrender their First Amendment rights because a foreign bureaucrat sends them an e-mail."

Since the introduction of age verification rules under Britain's Online Safety Act, visits to popular adult sites have plummeted, with Pornhub losing over a million visitors.

"Encryption alone doesn't guarantee a secure connection. True security depends on how traffic is routed, what's exposed, and how much control the company has. With proxies, only selected traffic is routed, giving enterprises tighter control, lower attack surface, and better integration into existing security policies."

The Online Safety Act introduces a fundamental shift in how online services - both UK-based and international - must operate when accessible by UK users. Ofcom now holds wide-ranging investigatory and enforcement powers, making compliance not just a legal necessity, but an operational and ethical imperative.

Melanie Dawes emphasized the importance of upcoming age verification checks, stating, "It is a really big moment, because finally, the laws are coming into force. What happens at the end of this month is that we see the wider protections for children come online."

"As a Category 1 service, Wikipedia could face the most burdensome compliance obligations, which were designed to tackle some of the UK's riskiest websites."