Online Safety Act
Because of the Online Safety Act the website forum has been deleted.
As a volunteer-run platform, we cannot guarantee full compliance with the Act’s vague and expansive requirements. Additionally, we are unwilling to implement invasive age verification methods that would compromise user privacy by requiring the collection of personal data.
If you disagree with these restrictions, we encourage you to contact your Member of Parliament (MP) to express your concerns about government overreach in internet regulation and censorship and shutting down free debate.
Why This Matters
The Online Safety Act does not meaningfully protect users. Scams still proliferate through phone calls and advertisements, large social media corporations continue to harvest and monetize personal data, and disinformation remains widespread and unmoderated across traditional social media sites run by the likes of Meta and X. Yet, the UK government’s focus has been on restricting access to pornography and introducing policies that undermine encryption and online privacy, instead of focusing on the issues that cause actually harmful types of content to be made and distributed.
Regulatory Overreach & Lack of Transparency
OFCOM, the UK’s regulator, has demonstrated a lack of technical understanding when drafting and enforcing these rules. Their guidance fails to account for independent forums and provides no clear thresholds for compliance. Despite this, they threaten independent site owners with excessive penalties for failing to adhere to a regulatory framework that spans over 1,000 pages but lacks any clarity.
These measures pave the way for a UK-controlled version of the “Great Firewall,” granting the government the ability to block or fine websites at will under broad, undefined, and constantly shifting terms of what is considered “harmful” content. This has already resulted in the shutdown of various platforms and services operating from the UK.
What This Means for HTCCA
To ensure the safety and sustainability of our website the forum has been deleted. We regret having to take this step, but we cannot take the legal risk of non-compliance with a law that is both burdensome and incompatible with the nature of independent forums.
If you are concerned about the broader implications of the Online Safety Act, we urge you to speak out and challenge these policies before further online freedoms are eroded. You can use websites like writetothem.com to find out who your MP is, and draft an email to them.
We hope that this legislation is challenged in court and ultimately overturned as the dystopian and tyrannical legislation it is, but until then – Thank you and sorry,
So long and thanks for all the fish.
