Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Censorship (331 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Censorship

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UK Government considers extending Under 16s social media ban to eBay

9th November, 2026 (19 Comments)

Before the UK Government has even had a chance to implement its controversial move to introduce an online Social Media ban for children under the age of 16 – for use against the most popular platforms (Facebook, Instagram etc.) – and there’s already talk of it being extended to include internet auction sites, such as eBay and Vinted etc.

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Ofcom sets out “highly effective” UK age checks for Under 16s social media ban

29th October, 2026 (39 Comments)

The UK telecoms, media and internet content regulator, Ofcom, has today set out how they will define “highly effective” Age Verification systems. Such systems are set to become a mandatory requirement as part of the Government’s controversial move to introduce an online Social Media ban for children under the age of 16 – for use against the most popular platforms (Facebook, Instagram etc.).

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Government look to impose mandatory age verification on UK Smartphones

9th September, 2026 (30 Comments)

The government’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Lisa Nandy, has revealed that they’re planning to introduce new legislation that will have the power to force the likes of Google and Apple to introduce mandatory Age Verification measures on Smartphones. The goal is the stop children sharing nude images of themselves, but it will also impact adult users.

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Ofcom Investigate TikTok Over Weak UK Internet Age Verification Measures

16th July, 2026 (1 Comment)

Popular video streaming site TikTok, which can be used by those who are 13 years of age or older (18+ for livestreaming), appears to have landed itself in hot water with Ofcom’s enforcement of the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) over their use of “age inference” technology to identify the age of their users (i.e. this is not something the regulator considers to be “highly effective” for age verification).

Gov Sets Out More Detail of UK Social Media Curfews and Restrictions for Under 18s

14th July, 2026 (6 Comments)

The Government has tonight set out more details of how they intend to implement their recently announced internet Social Media ban for children under 16 (original news), which among other things includes new details on overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under 18s.

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ISPs Say Rights Holders Must be Held Accountable for Blocking Innocent Websites

1st July, 2026 (4 Comments)

The EuroISPA (European ISP Association), which represents over 3,300 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) across the EU and EFTA countries (including the United Kingdom), has called for copyright holders to be “held accountable” when their measures to stop access to online piracy (copyright infringement) creates “collateral damage [due to] overbroad blocking actions“.

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Sky Broadband Users Accidentally Blocked from UK NHS Website and App

26th June, 2026 (13 Comments)

Some customers of Sky Broadband reported that they were unable to access the main NHS website and app earlier in the week, seemingly after the internet provider accidentally managed to block it. But Sky has since suggested that the fault might have been with the NHS. The issue prevented people being able to access their medical data and manage appointments etc.

Stop Killing Games Forms Sister Campaign to Stop Killing the Internet

17th June, 2026 (8 Comments)

The Stop Killing Games group, which is a consumer campaign that seeks to preserve video games after they are taken offline, has joined with a number of global rights respecting organisations to create a sister campaign called Stop Killing the Internet. The aim is to defend the open internet against policies and practices that “impose surveillance, exclusion and excessive centralised control” in the name of online safety.

Government Confirms UK Internet Social Media BAN for Children Under 16 UPDATE2

15th June, 2026 (39 Comments)

The Prime Minister of the UK Government, Sir Keir Starmer, has today confirmed that they will introduce an internet Social Media Ban for children under the age of 16 against ten popular platforms (TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, X, Threads, Facebook and Kick). But that’s not the only restriction they’ll be introducing.

Rights Holders Gain More Control to Block UK Access to Internet Piracy Sites

26th May, 2026 (15 Comments)

The High Court has granted rights holders, such as Columbia Pictures and others, more flexibility to require the UK’s major broadband ISPs (e.g. BT, EE, Plusnet, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband and TalkTalk) to block customers from accessing websites that have been found to facilitate internet copyright infringement (piracy).

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Tech and Civil Society Groups Warn Against Blanket UK Internet Restrictions

5th May, 2026 (2 Comments)

The Open Rights Group, Index on Censorship, Mozilla, Tor Project, Big Brother Watch, plus many other technology and civil society groups, have signed a new statement that urges UK policymakers to reconsider their approach to online safety legislation – warning that proposed age-gating measures and access restrictions threaten to fragment the open internet and erode the rights of all users.

Gov Intend to Restrict Social Media for Under 16s Even Without Full UK Ban

28th April, 2026 (18 Comments)

The government’s Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has revealed that – regardless of the outcome from their current consultation on a proposed internet Social Media ban for children under the age of 16 (here) – they will still “impose some form of age or functionality restrictions” even if they stop short of a full ban.

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UK ISP Sky Broadband Fixes Accidental Block of Bitbucket’s SSH Service

25th April, 2026 (4 Comments)

Internet provider Sky Broadband has resolved a fault that caused the ISP to accidentally block Secure Shell (SSH) communications to Bitbucket.org, which is a cloud-based Git repository hosting service owned by Atlassian that is designed for professional software (business) teams.

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Government Set to Restrict UK Children’s Use of Internet VPNs and Social Media UPDATE

16th February, 2026 (52 Comments)

The UK Prime Minister, Kier Starmer, has today proposed last minute amendments to two Bills that will enable the Government to set a minimum age limit for social media (i.e. greater use of Age Verification), as well as options to age restrict or limit children’s use of Virtual Private Networks (VPN), where it “undermines safety protections and changing the age of digital consent“.

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House of Lords Votes to Ban UK Children from Using Internet VPNs

26th January, 2026 (64 Comments)

Last week saw the House of Lords pass a vote that would, if approved by the Government, introduce an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (CWSB) that aims to “prohibit the provision” of Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to children (under 18s) in the UK. The goal is to stop children allegedly using VPNs to bypass age verification systems.

Survey Warns a Third of UK Adults Use VPNs to Bypass Internet Porn Age Checks

7th January, 2026 (26 Comments)

A new survey of 1,469 adults, which was conducted by the child protection focused Lucy Faithfull Foundation, has “warned” that 45% of adults who don’t want to verify their identities to access porn – a requirement of the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) – have turned to using sites without age checks. In addition, 29% have used Virtual Private Networks to bypass age checks on sites that have them.

Ofcom Monitoring UK VPN Use Due to Circumvention of Online Safety Act

11th November, 2025 (66 Comments)

The UK telecoms and internet content regulator, Ofcom, has revealed they’re using an unidentified third-party monitoring tool – seemingly with AI capabilities – to track the public’s use of Virtual Private Network (VPN) tools as part of Government concerns that they’re being used to circumvent internet censorship measures under the Online Safety Act (OSA).