- A petition to repeal the United Kingdom online security law has already reached more than 340,000 signatures in just a few days
- The Parliament of the United Kingdom should consider for debate any request that obtains more than 100,000 signatures
- The rules of verification of the new era were applied on July 25, 2025, which caused concerns about people’s digital rights
A petition to repeal the United Kingdom online security law has obtained more than 340,000 signatures in just a few days after the strict verification requirements of the new era entered into force.
As of Friday, July 25, 2025, all platforms that show adult content must verify that all its users are over 18 years of age through robust age checks. Social networks, game services and appointment applications should also protect minors from harmful content through similar controls.
These requirements have caused concerns among politicians, digital rights experts and technologists who fear that invasive identification controls can lead to data violations, surveillance and limitations of freedom of expression.
The petition has now crossed 100,000 and, therefore, will be considered for debate. The next steps are contacts in your MP, ask them to be in any debate: explain your problems with the act, my reasons to start are probably different from yours to sign it: continue signing pic.twitter.com/ekyqbdhJuly 25, 2025
“We believe that the scope of the online security law is much broader and restrictive than necessary in a free society,” says the request created by Alex Baynham, a London who launched a new independent party, Build, in December last year.
“We believe that Parliament should repeal the act and work to produce proportional legislation instead of risking civil society that speaks of trains, football, video games or even hamsters because it cannot deal with individual actors of bad faith.”
While the Parliament of the United Kingdom must consider for debate any request that obtains more than 100,000 signatures, Baynham encourages anyone interested in saying their opinion.
To do so, you must sign the request, communicate with your MP and explain the reason you are worried. The deadline is October 22, 2025. However, taking into account the great response, a debate can be organized long before that.
Age verification: what are the risks and how to stay safe
The new rules are certainly a way to prevent children from accessing inappropriate and dangerous content online. However, age controls also have significant risks for the privacy of people, security and other rights such as freedom of expression and access to information.
You must now be ready to scan your face, credit card or identification document if you want to access any X, Reddit or Bluesky content in the United Kingdom. The same happens if you want to play a new video game of more than 18, find a new game in an appointment application or watch a video reserved only for adults.
This implies that it trusts these service providers to take care of these highly sensitive data. Something that, as shown by the recent HDK hack, is not always possible. A data violation of this magnitude could expose millions of British to stolen identity, fraud and other dangers.
Similarly, some experts also argue that getting rid of online anonymity could lead to greater surveillance by leaving such access vulnerable data to abuse.
Experts also fear that new rules can lead to greater censorship, since platforms are now required to eliminate or block all content defined as harmful.
Despite the United Kingdom regulator, ofcom, which suggests against them, the British have been resorting to the best mass VPN applications to avoid renouncing their most precious data to access a website.
Proton VPN, for example, saw an increase in records, registering an increase per hour of more than 1,400% from Friday at midnight.
Speaking with Techradar, a proton spokesman said: “This clearly shows that adults are concerned about the impact that universal age verification laws will have on their privacy.”
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