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Articles for Category Tag - Censorship

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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 (64 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).

30th September, 2025 (40 Comments)

The popular online image sharing website Imgur.com, which was first founded in 2009 and has been widely used to host viral images, short videos and memes that can be linked to from other sites, appears as if it may have responded to a recent Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) investigation by blocking UK IP (Internet Protocol) addresses.

NordVPN Names UK as Third Most Targeted Country for Internet Malware

6th August, 2025 (11 Comments)

The latest Q2 2025 threat protection report from NordVPN, which is a familiar Virtual Private Network (VPN) provider, has revealed that the UK now ranks third in the world for the number of cyberattacks it attracts – having seen a surge of 103 million incidents (up by 7% in Q1) of malware being sent to Brits via emails and texts, malicious sites and infected attachments etc.

Study Claims UK Public WiFi Networks Failing Child Safety Standards

5th August, 2025 (18 Comments)

A new study from Guest Metrics, which has a vested interest in selling content filtering solutions, claims to have identified “widespread failures in public WiFi compliance” after it identified that 80% of the venues it tested had no content filtering (no age checks, no splash pages, no logging) to protect children from adult content – a key part of the UK government’s new Online Safety Act (2023).

Illustration of a VPN Virtual Private Network on UK Computer by 123rf ID184214833

UK Government Warns Promoting the Use of VPNs Could Attract Fines UPDATE

31st July, 2025 (0 Comments)

The UK government has warned that online platforms which “deliberately target UK children and promote [Virtual Private Network] use” could now “face enforcement action, including significant financial penalties“. The statement comes after many people – ironically mostly adults – rushed to adopt VPNs to avoid the wide adoption of age verification.

Censorship Blocked Website Message by UK ISP

Cloudflare Blocking Access to Internet Piracy Websites in the UK

15th July, 2025 (37 Comments)

At present, it’s already quite well known that the UK’s major home broadband ISPs (BT, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk etc.) block customers from accessing websites that have been found, via the High Court, to facilitate internet copyright infringement (piracy). But now Content Delivery Network (CDN) provider Cloudflare has started doing the same.

Court Orders Big UK ISPs to Block Pirated Israel TV Streaming Sites

27th February, 2025 (13 Comments)

Most of the major broadband ISPs in the United Kingdom (BT, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, EE and Plusnet) have just been handed a new court order to block an Israel TV video streaming site, which was found to have been facilitating internet copyright infringement (piracy).

Ofcom Begin Process of Imposing Age Verification on UK Internet Sites

16th January, 2025 (52 Comments)

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today moved forward with implementation of the government’s tedious new Online Safety Act (OSA) by publishing industry guidance on how websites and social media services should introduce “effective age checks“. The goal is to prevent children from encountering online porn and protect them from other harmful content.

Big UK ISPs Ordered to Block More Pirated Book and Journal Websites

20th December, 2024 (18 Comments)

The Publishers Association (PA) has convinced the High Court to force most of the major broadband ISPs in the United Kingdom (BT, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, EE and Plusnet) to extend and expand their existing block of websites, focusing on those that were found to facilitate internet copyright infringement (piracy) of books and journals.

Internet disconnection and broadband ISP information on uk computer screen

ISP Virgin Media UK Warns Parental Controls on New Devices Still Confuse

18th December, 2024 (9 Comments)

A new survey of 1,020 people in the UK, which was conduct by Strand Partners on behalf of broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) and Internet Matters, has found that 44% of parents don’t know how to add safety controls or tools to the tech (devices) they’re planning to gift this Christmas. This is despite 82% being worried about their children having unrestricted access to the internet.

Censorship and forbidden speech warning sign uk internet

Ofcom Publish New Online UK Internet Safety Codes of Practice

16th December, 2024 (20 Comments)

Ofcom has today published the “first edition” of its new online UK safety codes of practice for “tech firms” (e.g. social media) and smaller websites under the government’s Online Safety Act (OSA). Providers now have 3 months to ensure they’re able to tackle “illegal harms” (content), such as terror, hate, fraud, child sexual abuse and assisting or encouraging suicide.

Internet and UK Telecoms Security Picture by 123rf

techUK Raise Internet Snooping Concerns Over UK IP Act Amendments

22nd March, 2024 (14 Comments)

Industry body techUK, which represents many of the UK’s key technology companies, and a broad range of stakeholders have today issued a joint statement that expresses concern about proposed changes under the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill, not least their potential impact upon internet security and privacy.

Expectations for UK ISPs as Ofcom Move to Tackle Internet Porn

5th December, 2023 (28 Comments)

Ofcom has today set out DRAFT guidance on how “highly effective” UK internet age verification checks must be implemented to stop children from accessing online porn websites and services as part of the wider Online Safety Act. But concerns remain over user privacy, while broadband ISPs may be asked to block websites that fail to comply.

Government to Expand Powers of UK Internet Snooping Law

7th November, 2023 (54 Comments)

The State Opening of Parliament, which is often referred to as the “King’s Speech” and sets out the UK Government’s agenda for the coming session, has revealed plans to amend and expand the still controversial 2016 Investigatory Powers Act (aka – “snoopers charter“). Expect deeper snooping of your online activity.

Internet Censorship Galore as UK Online Safety Bill Becomes Law

19th September, 2023 (86 Comments)

Get ready, it’s going to be a rocky ride. The UK Government’s new Online Safety Bill (OSB) is finally set to become law after passing through both houses of parliament today, largely unopposed. The goal is to tackle “harmful” content online, but the result may be a regime that has a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

Government Softens Stance on UK End to End Encryption Ban

6th September, 2023 (19 Comments)

The UK Government appears to have softened its controversial stance on end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in the looming Online Safety Bill (OSB), which threatened to undermine the security of internet messaging and communication platforms by allowing private messages to be filtered and moderated.