If you're in the UK and regularly use Discord, you've likely woken ꦿup to find that your account is restricted. All of a sudden, users in the UK are unable to access Discord channels that are tagged as adult only, unless they pass a new age verification process.
This is thanks to the new Online Safety Act, which comes into effect today. Under this law, any site or app that hosts adult content will have to ensure that there are "strong age checks" in place, so no more ticking a box to say you're over 18. In practice, this means that users of Discord, Reddit, Bluesky, and more are being asked to scan their IDs and even their faces, so they can prove that they are an adult. Pred⛦ictably, users are already running into issues.
Discord Users Blocked From Their Own Servers As UK Online Safety Act Comes Into Effect
As the regulations are rolled out, it looks like Discord is only blocking adult online channels from unverified users, as opposed to the entire serverꩲ. However, users on sites such as Bluesky are reporting that they are unable to get into their DMs without verifying their age first.
It appears that Reddit is one of the most affected sites so far. Users say that they are unable to access subreddits centred around certain 🔴games, meaning that some are running into issues ♋when they're looking up game guides. One of the most circulated examples from the non-gaming world is r/beer, which also required age verification to access.
This new law is also the reason why N🐟exus Mods recently announced changes to how it hosts and distributes adult mods. Due to ♉this, mods containing sexual or violent content will now require age-verified accounts to be made, too. Nexus staff warned that🎀 they would be "fined out of existence" if they did not comply, and if we look at the powers granted in the new law, it's clear that this is indeed the case.
If a site or app fails to comply, then they will face fines of "u🧜p to £18m or 10 percent of their qualifying worldwide revenue (whichever is greater)," according to . This would sting a popular site like Blusky or P*rnHub very badly, but could very well shut down smaller hobbyist sites.
With all of that sai🅰d, UK residents are already finding ways around these age checks. One Discord user that they were able to use gameplay footage from Death Stranding to pass the face scan, and others are turning to VPNs.
While not directly tied to the new UK law, this all comes as adult content in the gaming industry comes under fire, too. Anti-p*rn pressure group Collective Shout has been 168澳洲幸ꦡ运5开奖网:successful ꧟in pressuring payment processors to compel Steam and Itch to remove adult games from storefronts. In Itch's case, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:th꧂ousa🍸nds of games were removed without warning,💟 with the site having to verify that each one meets⭕ the standards put forward by payment processors.
Itch Has Now Been Censored By Payment Processors Too – We're Slipping Down The Censorship Slope
Paymentღ processors shouldn't be the ones deciding💞 what art is.