SpaceHey is shut down in the UK

So, since the UK is starting to get the "Online Safety Act", or the "OSA" for short, to take effect.

I am devastated at the fact the UK wants to make websites, and I mean EVERY WEBSITE who has a UK audience, even if they aren't based in the UK, to add age checks via ID, these checks are not cheap either, like with Reddit for example, they use "Persona", and the checks cost Reddit $0.50 or $1.50 per USER. It's like they want tech giants to stay up while the smaller, independent ones has to block people's UK IPs (until futher notice), or has to face criminal charges for it if they don't comply.

I'm fine with protecting the younger people, but I think this has gone too far in my honest opinion.

I'm currently using a VPN to make this, because this is the only way I know how to use stuff like SpaceHey, even if the UK is blocked from using it.

Edit: I heard that they are also trying to dismantle end-to-end encryption on messengers like Meta's "Messenger" and Apple's "Messages", making it easier to spy on messages - "Online Safety Act" makes this easier and legal to do, I find it as a major invasion of privacy.

Edit 2: Luckily, there's a petition to repeal the OSA, I'm currently looking at it right now and it's at 53,052, also, the Gov will respond to anything that has 10,000 signatures, but it needs to get to 100,000 signatures to have it be debated in Parliament.

Edit 3: It reached 300,000 signatures! 

Edit 4: So sorry for ANOTHER update, but sadly, the UK gov isn't repealing the bill, saying "The Government is working with Ofcom to ensure that online in-scope services are subject to robust but proportionate regulation through the effective implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023.", "The Government has no plans to repeal the Online Safety Act, and is working closely with Ofcom to implement the Act as quickly and effectively as possible to enable UK users to benefit from its protections." and "The Government will continue to work with Ofcom towards the full implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023, including monitoring proportionate implementation.".

The only hope of fixing this mess is that the debate, but we have to wait for that, that being said though, it did reach 352,686 signatures as I'm currently writing this edit.

They are also blocking LGBTQ+ content for under-18s, which sucks deeply because some people need that reach, but sadly not getting it, and mental health stuff too. Even Wikipedia is getting blocked in the UK because it is a "high" risk with no reason to apply. This is going to sound weird, but I feel like the UK is slowly turning in a clone of George Orwell's "1984", but if you have anything better that sounds similar to this, please leave it in the comments. Things would help.

Edit 5: The UK Gov is thinking about banning VPNs entirely, well, "unlicensed" vpns that they believe that deem to be unsafe. So, people in the UK is so screwed.

This is a example of what the page looks like if your using a UK IP.

I hope you all have a good day/night!

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On a personal note,

I also apologize for my terrible, terrible writing, as I am not a experienced writer and barely do stuff like this, but I want people to know what on earth is going on in the UK and that "safety" act.

Even if the United Kingdom is blocked (as of right now) on SpaceHey.

Thank you so much for your understanding. - Riley

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