this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2025
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Finally it seems the end of Reddit is near.

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[–] genevieve@sh.itjust.works 351 points 2 days ago (8 children)

“Reddit has stressed that this system is only to verify users' age, and it has no interest in your identity. Lee further stated that Persona won't know what subreddits you visit, and has promised it won't keep users' uploaded images more than seven days.”

Press X to doubt.

[–] dugmeup@lemmy.world 132 points 2 days ago (4 children)
[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 95 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Under the new UK law, lemmynsfw would also need to have some kind of age verification for UK users.

[–] donuts@lemmy.world 123 points 2 days ago (2 children)

This. Can't believe we're seeing "lol Reddit sucks" when this is a country-wide implementation and has nothing to do with Reddit in particular.

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 44 points 1 day ago (5 children)
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[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 64 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Real talk - or what? If LemmyNSFW isn't based in the UK, what can they do?

Block it? I'd rather have that than deal with processing users face data.

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 27 points 2 days ago

Honestly I have no idea. I guess they could just block it if they don't comply?

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[–] themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com 39 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It is not just that, I don't trust Persona security, if a malicious actor installed a silent program that monitors users and sends it to a command and control center they probably won't know for months or even years. Cyber security is very bad in most companies.

https://xcancel.com/H4ckmanac

[–] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 35 points 2 days ago

Very careful wording there to switch between Persona and Reddit to conveniently omit one from the justification given by the other.

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[–] genevieve@sh.itjust.works 159 points 2 days ago (9 children)

The “won’t somebody please think of the children” rhetorical tactic is always just a pretext for authoritarianism, mass surveillance and data privacy intrusion. Always. It’s the perfect motte-and-bailey: when you attack the actual motives, the motte becomes, “So you don’t care about children?”

[–] Mrkawfee@lemmy.world 66 points 2 days ago

UK is full blown authoritarian now. They have been arresting journalists who are covering the genocide in Gaza and designated a direct action protest group as a terrorist organisation.

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[–] BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world 118 points 2 days ago (4 children)

This is a combination of terrible legislation in the UK meets awful social media site.

The Online Safety Act is an abomination, compromising the privacy and freedom of the vast majority of the UK in the name of "protecting children".

I'm of the view parents are responsible for protecting their children. I know it's hard but the Online Safety Act is not a solution.

All it will.do is compromise the privacy and security of law abiding adults while kids will still access porn and all the other really bad stuff on the Internet will actually be unaffected. The dark illegal shit on the Internet is not happening on Pornhub or Reddit.

The UK is gradually sliding further and further into censorship, and authoritarianism and all the in the name of do gooders. It's scary to watch.

[–] SippyCup@feddit.nl 59 points 2 days ago

The online safety act isn't actually about protecting children. That's a smoke screen for a surveillance bill. They want to eliminate anonymity online.

[–] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 46 points 2 days ago (18 children)

The solution to all of this “think of the children” stuff is that devices owned/used by children should have to be registered as a child’s device, which would enable certain content blockers.

Forcing adults to verify their identity, rather than simply activating some broad based restrictions on devices being purchased for child use, is a waste of time. Kids will still find workarounds. Adult privacy will be compromised.

Its also an easily enforceable policy to require registration of children’s devices. You can hold the parents to compliance. You can hold the carriers to compliance. Its truly the simplest way to keep kids from accessing porn without having to mess with adult use of the internet whatsoever

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[–] ageek@lemmy.world 102 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Next in the news: "500k Usernames, Passwords and biometric data leaked in the latest hack"

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 day ago

So...coming soon: an app that can match up images of friends or colleagues with a summary of their pornography preferences.

This could at least liven up some boring meetings or dull parties...

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Yeah, I will definitely trust an internet stranger with my face so they can verify that I'm not underage to access content which could, in case of being leaked, damage my reputation or even destroy my life.

DEFINITELY

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 74 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Yeah, fuck all that.

Guess we're transitioning into a VPN only future.

We have the opportunity to head into a utopic or dystopic future and we're absolutely choosing the dystopic one.

[–] plz1@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago (6 children)

They'll criminalize personal VPN users for non-work purposes, next.

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[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago

A VPN future? Haha. Not if they don't want to. There are many ways to prevent VPN from operating when you're a government.

You can just plain ban encryption, which sounds really crazy, but yeah, they're trying to.

You can just say "it's illegal to use a VPN". It'll technically still work, but if there's a trace of trafic from your house to a known VPN endpoint, you're it! Great!

They can force custom proprietary spying software on your devices. Sounds equally crazy as the thing above, right? But rest assured they're ALSO trying to do that. Multiple times, even. And in some places… they did. Of course, nothing forces you to have such software on your device. Especially if your devices are not supported; it also turns into a "you have to buy this or that big name device, everything else's de-facto illegal! Fuck you, we're the government!". And if you get caught for whatever, and your phone, PC, or anything isn't "compliant"? Bam. Guilty.

Plenty of option. All of them completely stupid and would weaken both privacy, individuals, and governments at large. It never stopped legislation from being pushed forward.

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[–] bnrnrtbgd@sh.itjust.works 66 points 2 days ago (6 children)

If the UK is going to require adult verification it should be built into your internet contract. Yeah, I'm an adult. I'm paying my bills, of course I'm a fucking adult. I over pay for this garbage internet.

Uploading a selfie? The ai is going to determine if you're over 18? Can the ai determine if the selfie is also ai?

[–] TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca 23 points 2 days ago

Yeah, it's some serious BS. They are forcing you to hand over and trust Reddit with your personal information, yet I wouldn't trust them if my life depended on it.

At the very least, someone in charge of this legisltion should learn OAuth2 and force the sites they want to comply by only let those OAuth2 accounts access their adult content. If I was in the UK, I'd just pay for a VPN over giving my photo to Reddit. That site is a lobby brigade hellhole whose "we know your dark secrets, we know everything" owner is also probably trading your account details on the side.

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[–] lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world 65 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well, I guess i am going to be regularly updating the metadata on my most recent selfie.

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[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago

Oh dear. What a dreadful business.

Anyway, this is mine.

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[–] AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 64 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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[–] jjmoldy@lemmy.world 60 points 1 day ago (8 children)

POV: You're the intern tasked with reviewing the selfies.

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[–] Outwit1294@lemmy.today 52 points 2 days ago

This whole thing is a security disaster waiting to happen.

[–] jhoward@lemmy.sdf.org 49 points 2 days ago (8 children)

What's to stop uploading a random picture of a person? Or even an AI generated person? I get what they're trying to do, but seems like legislative theater more than anything.

[–] iii@mander.xyz 28 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I've once attempted to open a bank account where they wanted video proof, and expected me to say a randomly assigned phrase, to solve the issue you mention.

I didn't do it. Fucking KYC is BS.

[–] themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Banks are highly regulated so it is not surprising that they would be strict in this, reddit on the other hand has no business doing it.

[–] iii@mander.xyz 28 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

has no business doing it.

Reddit is doing this as a response to regulation as well (1). Governments all around europe (2) are turning communications into a highly regulated environment ("for the children"), because they're afraid of people communicating and having thoughts. UK is just one of the early adaptors.

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[–] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 47 points 1 day ago (3 children)

u/spez was the lead moderator of r/jailbait, and when he was caught, he got rid of mod transparency. Ghilisaine Maxwell was likely a l lead moderator of news Reddits as well (u/MaxwellHill). Reddit has always been compromised.

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[–] misteloct@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

To follow compliance with the Know Your Customer Pornographic Materials Act, please use the following guidelines for your photograph:

  1. The picture must be clear, at least 720x480p.

  2. The picture must include your entire body, including your head and toes. Portrait only. *This helps us identify you better.

  3. Please remove any articles of clothing, your body must be unimpeded by any obstruction. *Burqas and other headscarves must be removed, no exceptions.

  4. If you were assigned female at birth, you will be required to rotate 180 degrees and upload another portrait photograph of your back. *Please use only your valid binary gender at birth, either male or female.

  5. Further requests for identification photos are at our discretion, our board has full authority. You may be required to upload alternative photos, such as positions bending over to help us identify your genitalia to ensure it matches your birth gender.

Thank you for using Persona. For any questions or complaints, please direct them to: BigDaddyGuns6969@aol.com. Please allow up to 14 days for an initial response, and 88 hours for subsequent replies.

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[–] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 42 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Lmao when the "anonymous" online forum requires de-anonymizing, I want to hope everyone leaves

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[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 38 points 1 day ago (2 children)
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[–] fittedsyllabi@lemmy.world 37 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They better be NSFW selfies.

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I'm a UK citizen, fuck everything about this law. I'm so sick of the current authoritarian trend amongst some western countries. The UK is one of the worst offenders.

It's not even about protecting kids. It's about control and appeasing puritanical elements in society. We're the 6th richest economy in the world and we can't even offer some of the poorest kids food security. But at least they can't see a pair of tits on Reddit.

[–] IllNess@infosec.pub 30 points 1 day ago (9 children)

There's a bunch of AI face generating pictures. I wonder if you can just use those. Or maybe this is just to create a new law to arrest people of uploading fake pictures...

https://thispersonnotexist.org/

https://this-person-does-not-exist.com/en

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[–] FarraigePlaisteach@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Kier Starmer voice: “We are an island, of wankers”

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[–] Cliff@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago

Just upload a picture of any politician who voted for this.

[–] berno@lemmy.world 28 points 2 days ago

Fuck Reddit fuck spez

[–] deathbird@mander.xyz 27 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Keeping the age verifier seperate from the content host is good. Destroying the files used for verification is good. On paper it's not too a bad system for age verification, but it really hinges on if you can trust them. Given the track record of basically almost every company and government ever...

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[–] minkymunkey_7_7@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (3 children)

We thought the same thing about Netflix with the sharing password bans. Yet they retained more profit than ever the next year.

Who's to say if this is what will make Reddit end, or did they actually just got more successful after the end of 3rd party apps compared to the declaration of so many users back then?

Digital personal verification is just going to become a fact of life in the future for everyone born after about 2012. They will use online ID cards, biometrics, location metadata that is constantly uploaded by our devices, maybe even implanted RFID encrypted chips for account verification. Passwords are becoming outdated and outmoded for security as we speak here. 2FA is the minimum security for online today but that may soon become outmoded as well.

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[–] Gutek8134@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Let's see how much VPN subscription count will go up

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[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago
[–] frenchfryenjoyer@lemmings.world 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

This is the facebook "show a video of your face" bs all over again. glad i don't have an account on either site bc not only is it a huge privacy concern, you know they store all that data and are going to sell it and/or use it to train AI models

[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sending a dick pick. Now it's whatever is in front of these to make a though decision.

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 22 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Just post on them. Two birds with one stone.

But if you do comply, double down by ringing Kier Starmer up and letting him (and your local MP) know what you've been wanking off to, since he's so fucking interested. He could have blocked this, but he let it run because he also agrees with it.

I wonder if there's a browser addon to make an itemised list of all the videos and camgirls and then I can send it to him on a regular basis. It should log when you close the browser window so it knows when you've "finished" so to speak. Maybe I could highlight those videos in bold for him, so he can skip right to the good ones.

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