Reddit now requires UK users to upload a selfie or ID to access adult content

[midian182]

A hot potato: Redditors in the UK who wish to view "certain mature content" on the platform now have to verify that they are 18 or older first. The company has introduced age verification for users in the country, which requires them to upload a selfie or a photo of their government ID.

Reddit says it was built on the principle that users shouldn't need to share personal information to participate in meaningful discussions. However, it does note that while the platform doesn't want to know who its users are, there are situations where it would be helpful to know a little more about them, such as whether a user is a real person or a bot, or if they are an adult or a child.

The announcement relates to the UK Online Safety Act, which require sites that show adult material to implement age verification measures beyond just clicking an "I am over 18" box. Its implementation has forced Reddit to introduce new requirements as of July 14.

The post states that Reddit has "tried" to use an age-verification method that protects the privacy of UK Redditors. It has partnered with a third-party provider, Persona, which performs the verification through either an uploaded selfie or photo of a government ID.

Reddit will not have access to the uploaded photo and it will only store users' verification status along with their birthdate so they won't have to re-enter it each time they try to access restricted content.

Persona, meanwhile, promises that it will not retain photos of users for longer than 7 days and not have access to users' Reddit data, such as the subreddits they visit.

"Your birthdate is never visible to other users or advertisers, and is used to support safety features and age-appropriate experiences on Reddit," the announcement reads.

Reddit's list of content restricted for non-adult UK users includes:

• bullying
• anything sexually explicit
• content that encourages, promotes, or provides instruction for suicide, self-injury, or eating disorders
• content that is abusive or incites hatred against people based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or gender reassignment
• content that promotes violence against a person or depicts real or realistically serious violence against a person, an animal, or a fictional creature

Also on the over-18s-only list is content that promotes or romanticizes depression, hopelessness and despair; shames or otherwise stigmatizes body types or physical features; and encourages a person to ingest, inject, inhale, or self-administer a physically harmful substance, or a substance in a physically harmful quantity. Challenges and stunts that could lead to serious harm are also now adult-only.

The deadline for online companies to comply with the UK's new rules is July 25. Many adult websites have started warning UK visitors to prepare for age verification checks to arrive.

UK regulatory agency Ofcom admitted that some under-18s will find ways to circumvent the restrictions, but added that they should prevent many kids from "stumbling across porn," and that "this is very much a first step."

Companies that fail to meet the rules face fines of up to £18 million ($24.1 million) or 10% of their worldwide revenue, "whichever is greater."

David Greene, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the UK's Online Safety Act was a "real tragedy."

"UK users can no longer use the internet without having to provide their papers, as it were," he said via the BBC. Greene added that he was disappointed websites like Reddit were not legally challenging the law.

Reddit said it expects that as laws change, it may implement age verification checks in other countries.

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Reddit now requires UK users to upload a selfie or ID to access adult content

 

[BlackyNoir]

That very much smell like any other corporate pinky promise, like Amazon's Ring cameras absolutely not invading privacy, employees won't watch girls on it nor will the company give away videos to police without any third party approval. Pinky promise triple double uber promised!

Right. Good job UK. You just made teenage targeted advertisement for VPN, and you also forgot when you were teenagers too, watching porn too, as is perfectly normal. We all done it, without issues... just leave the poor kids alone ffs. France is next, having passed similar BS laws that do nothing to "protect" anyone but make it worse in privacy and actual protection of those at risk.

 

[AlexIL]

I'm so glad I have nothing to do with UK. From the most advanced nation in the world to laughter stock in less than a century time. Amazing.

 

[GeoffreyA]

Such methods are pointless because youngsters will view it if they want. Creating the forbidden thing behind a closed door makes the forbidden, trite in itself, desired. If society would like to stop youngsters from watching pornography, it has to come from education, perhaps teaching the difference between the erotic and the pornographic. Arguably, pornography springs from suppression, and in today's cinema, violence is glorified but sex and nudity are swept under the carpet. In the absence of better materials, youth go to the big P, learning false ideas about sex and body image.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

In most countries you need a VPN in order to avoid censorship/retaliation from the state for wrong think.

 

[JosephM]

Instead of investing in proper education and awareness, governments keep doubling down on restrictions and surveillance. If the real goal is to protect young people, why not focus on providing comprehensive sex education and digital literacy? Teaching teens how to navigate the internet safely and understand healthy relationships would do far more good than forcing platforms to collect IDs and selfies. All this really does is push young users to more unsafe, unregulated corners of the web — and that's the opposite of protection.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

There's a lot of hand wringing over children not being able to access Pr0n, when for millennia as a species we survived without a constant drip feed of internet hedonism.

Also, it's the UK, they get what they deserve. That country has spent the last 50 years trying its hardest to tear itself apart and make life as miserable as possible.

Instead of investing in proper education and awareness, governments keep doubling down on restrictions and surveillance. If the real goal is to protect young people, why not focus on providing comprehensive sex education and digital literacy? Teaching teens how to navigate the internet safely and understand healthy relationships would do far more good than forcing platforms to collect IDs and selfies. All this really does is push young users to more unsafe, unregulated corners of the web — and that's the opposite of protection.

Your first mistake is assuming the government cares about its peasants. The second mistake was taking the "we want to protect people" statement as fact.

ALL governments, some to a greater degree, desire power and control. Everything they do is designed in one way or another to accomplish this goal. The sooner people figure that out, the sooner they can start demanding real, actual changes.

 

[Xelions]

VPNs used to be for work from home goto, now it's used to get around all the bullsh#$ laws that governments and mega corps come up with to control it's citizens choices.

I think I speak for freedom when I say to hell with those laws.

 

[candle86]

Anyone upset that they are now finally starting to put this filth behind closed doors needs to explain why minors should have access. Why do you want to sexualize children.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ah, more surveillance state dressed up in its usual "think of the children" bullshit. How many cycles of this **** will I have to live through.

And for all the Americans thinking "it won't happen here" a few red states have already implemented ID requirements, and it won't be long before we have a federal requirement as well.

Our Speaker is a guy that has a porn watch app with his son, instead of you know just getting his son a dumb phone like a normal parent might do.

The news has started to talk up "population decline" like it's some sort of horrible thing, so don't be surprised to see this debate get wrapped up with that panic as well. What good is being part of the ruling class if you run out of serfs yeah?

 

[RF Match]

Instead of investing in proper education and awareness, governments keep doubling down on restrictions and surveillance. If the real goal is to protect young people, why not focus on providing comprehensive sex education and digital literacy? Teaching teens how to navigate the internet safely and understand healthy relationships would do far more good than forcing platforms to collect IDs and selfies. All this really does is push young users to more unsafe, unregulated corners of the web — and that's the opposite of protection.

Sorry, that just makes too much sense.....

 

[Xelions]

Anyone upset that they are now finally starting to put this filth behind closed doors needs to explain why minors should have access. Why do you want to sexualize children.

Sorry Father Barry but if you look at evolution people do f#*$ and excuse me if I walk into a cinema and watch someone get gun down in a film but I'm lucky to see some nudity cause some law says thats okay. JC! People and their notions and expectations on society are pathetic. Before porn and the Internet you still couldn't surveil your kids 24/7. Remem I use to be a kid, and you could get away with all types of **** when your parents are working all the time, tired and cooking up the next feast.

Our civilization is built on some of the most comedic rules I've ever seen. You don't see the animal kingdom f#$king over some monkey for a dollar. Humans got a lot to learn from lower species.

 

[Megalomaniac]

Thank God I've been putting that old 2TB SSD to use archiving videos just in case the apocalypse ever came.

 

[Megalomaniac]

Minors NEVER should have had access and every single site should have been buried behind CREDIT CARD authorization.

 

[human7]

Sadly also happening in the U.S., and the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that it only requires intermediate (not strict) scrutiny and that it passes intermediate scrutiny.

So what's a curious minor (and some adults) to do? Go to sites that break the law, of course. And where they break the law in one way, they most surely break it in others.

 

[axiomatic13]

Here is my selfie. https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/

 

[passwordistaco]

Way, way back in the olden days porn was sold from a grimy shop in a questionable part of town and they checked ID when a customer walked in (or should have). There were, and still are, laws placing age restrictions on the availability of porn.

Just because the internet started giving a way free porn (ahem, "adult material") to people of all ages doesn't mean that is how it should be. Is anybody suggesting we should have free liquor delivery with no age verification?

The problem is that it's tough to verify age online while maintaining the level of privacy people want (while watching porn, but not social media, but that's another conversation). That still doesn't mean that porn should be available online to people of all ages.

Some states in the U.S. have passed new laws requiring age verification for porn sites. PornHub has "pulled out" of those states. If a site is unable to operate in compliance with longstanding and new laws restricting the availability of porn to adults, perhaps they should cease operations. But then, nobody would be making money off of those sites.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

To everyone who is suddenly so concerned about the welfare of society's precious little snowflakes:

Why don't we monitor kid's internet activity rather than forcing the entire internet to accommodate kids? They're minors, wards of their parents, and do not have full constitutional rights. Hold the parents responsible for ensuring their kids don't mess themselves up. Let's build the bubble wrap around the kids, not the whole effing world.

I am a parent to two kids. Their exposure to the internet is really restricted. Video games? Single player (or couch co-op) for an hour a weekend (and has to be vetted for content by me first). Laptops? Never alone in their room, only in shared living spaces of the house, and even those are time constrained. Smartphones? FUGHEDDABOUTIT younger has no phone, older has a dumb phone with a BYOP plan that has dogshyte internet connectivity as an extra layer of protection (cause even cheapo dumb phones aren't really made for kids and have some social media and camera abilities).

And its not like my wife or I have tons of time to monitor these kids too, we both work long hours in office. Do the kids try to push the boundries sometimes? Yeah they're kids its what they do. Do they sometimes get exposed to inappropriate content (violence/language/sex)? Yes, even when my wife or I are around.

Is it our job as parents to contextualize what does leak through and talk to our kids about it even if its kinda gross? YES!

WTF is with people and their "Is HR in the room with you now" solutions to all of society's problems?

 

[fadingfool]

Why have minors got unrestricted access to the internet? Would it be more sensible to stop unrestricted internet access to all underage people than restrict adults unless they provide personal information. Can we roll back the clock where getting online took a modicum of intellect?

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Step by step give up all freedom and become the government's slave in all things.

But hey the women and children slaves will be (more) safe because the masters say so.

"He who trades his liberty for security deserves neither." Benjamin Franklin