UK Labour Party’s bid to stifle VPNs a ‘longterm pattern’
Tiana Lowe Doescher, a Washington Examiner economics columnist, argued that the U.K.’s Online Safety Act represents a broader effort by the Labor government under Keir Starmer to eliminate online anonymity and close off workarounds like VPNs. She noted VPN use in the U.K. rose after the law passed and reported ministers have discussed banning them—a move she said would put the U.K.in company with countries such as north Korea. U.S. officials, including vice President JD Vance, have warned the law risks leading Britain down a “very dark path” of censorship. Doescher contrasted narrowly tailored U.S. state measures—like age verification for pornography sites—with the online Safety Act’s sweeping definitions of “harmful content,” which she said grant the state broad control. She also said arrests for speech-related offenses in the U.K. have tripled over a decade while authorities have paid insufficient attention to physical harm to children. As a result of the law, companies such as Aylo (operator of Pornhub) have announced they will stop participating in the U.K. system; Pornhub will stop accepting new users beginning Feb. 2.
UK Labour Party’s bid to stifle VPNs a ‘longterm pattern’ against anonymity: Tiana Doescher
Washington Examiner economics columnist Tiana Lowe Doescher said Wednesday that the scrutiny over the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act is “clearly” a bid to shut down “workarounds for internet anonymity.”
Various United States officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have criticized the U.K.’s Online Safety Act, a set of laws that aims to protect children and adults by tasking social media companies and search services with online safety. Vance warned last year that the U.K. could go down a “very dark path” of censorship with this law, saying the U.S. went down this path under the Biden administration.
The U.K.’s use of Virtual Private Networks has increased after the Online Safety Act passed last year, prompting some U.K. ministers to float a possible ban on VPNs.
Doescher downplayed the idea that the U.K.’s clampdown on internet use is similar to Iran’s, though a ban on VPNs would put the U.K. in the company of countries like North Korea that have enacted such bans.
“I think, as far as why U.S. officials or why our diplomats are so concerned, beyond just the special relationship and affection that we have four our older sibling the U.K., is the fact that clearly this is just part of a longer pattern of the Labour government under Keir Starmer wanting to make sure that there are no workarounds for internet anonymity,” Doescher said on GB News.
Doescher added that individual U.S. states will mandate age verification “specifically, very narrowly tailored” for websites like pornography, and this hasn’t led to “overreach.” Meanwhile, the U.K.’s Online Safety Act has “sweeping and broad” definitions of what counts as “harmful content,” ensuring that the state has “total control.”
“And again, when the definitions of what constitutes harm are very narrow, the U.K. obviously doesn’t have a First Amendment the same way the U.S. does. You are a separate country, you have certain prerogatives,” Doescher said.
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“But then, when you go through the minutiae of bans on bullying content or content, which incite hatred against people who have the characteristic of gender reassignment, everyone sees the direction that the U.K. is going.”
Doescher also said while arrests for “speech-related offenses” have tripled in the last decade, the Labour government has given “very little attention” to physical harm on children, citing statistics that “seem to indicate” that the U.K. has the highest rate of rape “of any other European nation.”
Aylo, a Cyprus-based company operating various pornography websites like PornHub, has said it will “no longer participate in the failed system” put in place under the Online Safety Act.
Beginning Feb. 2, Pornhub will no longer accept new users.
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