⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️: "Here's the letter I just sent my MP about #online…" - Qoto Mastodon

⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ @falken@qoto.org

Here's the letter I just sent my MP about #onlineSafetyAct

I used https://www.writetothem.com/ which makes it super easy.

/cc @neil @derickr @tallpaul

#uk #security #politics

A letter that says in part:

I fear that because OFCOM is not able to enforce the OSA in a proportional way, resources and communities grown over decades may have to close, or move to larger, costly, providers - FaceBook, Instragram etc. This is because the consequences of enforcement under the OSA are so draconian that anyone rightly concerned about their users and the law isn’t going to take the risk of that liability. A single "online troll" complaint to OFCOM could be the trigger for this, regardless of actions or paperwork the site may have, or if the complaint is valid or not.

Ironically those who don’t care about their users or UK law will just ignore it and likely be beyond prosecution/enforcement anyway, such as on Truth Social.

I hope you can see that the Online Safety Act consolidates power in the large companies and small independent operators like myself may have to shut their services down. This is pretty much exactly the opposite of what we need right now.
We need diversity of online communities and opportunities for people to create curated online spaces that are not subject to the whims of people like Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump or Elon Musk.

I hope you can urge the UK government to amend things, or ask OFCOM to provide clear, actionable, but most of all simpler and quicker things small operators can do.
The UK shouldn't have to lose all it's small and independent online communities, some that have been part of the internet since the earliest days.

January 29, 2025 at 11:10 AM · · · ·

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