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As of July 24, 2025, SpaceHey is unavailable to users in the United Kingdom.
This is due to the UK's new Online Safety Act, which came into effect on July 24, 2025. The law introduces strict new requirements for social media platforms - especially around protecting minors. For example, platforms must prevent users who are under 18 from accessing features like instant messaging or potentially harmful content.
At SpaceHey, we absolutely support making the internet safer - especially for young people. Our community has always been rooted in positivity, creativity, and self-expression, and we've worked hard with our small team of volunteer moderators to remove harmful content as quickly as possible.
However, as a small and independent platform run with very limited resources, we currently don't have the tools or infrastructure to reliably verify the age of every UK user in a privacy-friendly and scalable way, or to guarantee full compliance with the new regulations.
To avoid any legal risks, we've decided to temporarily restrict access for UK users until we can fully understand the requirements and explore possible solutions.
I know this is frustrating, and I wish things were different. I'm proud of the community SpaceHey has grown into, and I understand how disappointing this is for those in the UK. However, this isn't goodbye. It's a pause, while we explore our options and hopefully return, better and compliant with these special new UK requirements, as soon as possible.
In the meantime, thank you so much for being part of this amazing community. We appreciate your patience, your understanding, and your support.
If you'd like to stay informed about updates or our progress on this issue, please check back soon or follow SpaceHey on one of the other social networks like Bluesky, Mastodon, Facebook, or Instagram.
Thank you so much for your understanding,
An
This decision has been made as a precaution and does not constitute legal advice or a final determination of SpaceHeyβs compliance status under UK law.
Comments
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phoebs ^^
PEOPLE IN THE UK!!!
use tor browser :)
(or a vpn)
βοΈπ΄πππβοΈ
So you do support that WE give YOU OUR PERSONAL DATA to just CHAT PRIVATELY that won't be PRIVATE for the safety of kids? Like kids should not be on here and that is the PARENTS JOB to MONITOR what THEIR kids are doing on the internet. So why do you just accept that? Fight for freedom, fight for privacy! Why do you obey something you and the people don't want? I don't get it just don't obey. That is how you start a Revolution. If you stand up maybe we all will because this is madness trying to control EVERYTHING! That's not safty that is a mental illness. We out number them 1 to 1 million but the people are too afraid to do what to stand up and fight? They think by accepting this will change something?
I agree. This "safety act" isn't protecting kids, and people should be against it.
by Meko; ; Report
Its one thing for the big USA platforms to fight against it, USA legislation is very strict on free speech, but for a smaller platform, in europe, the threat of litigation from the UK government is a very scary prospect i would imagine, could get a site like this wiped out entirely in no time unfortunately,
But yeah if Wikipedia, and primarily US based companies fight against it we could see it get repealed, that or every country will fall in line with all the major tech companies knowing how much they can profit off all the extra data
by Theleeroy; ; Report
Zigzag Buster πΊπ¦
I guess this means I canβt chat with people from the U.K. anymore.
Just the few of us that break the rules :')
by Theleeroy; ; Report
Then more of you need to break the rules.
by Zigzag Buster πΊπ¦; ; Report
I reckon a lot of people will, and actually hope more big sites ban the UK because of the safety act, just so more people do stand against it, driving people and especially teens to VPNs or worse ain't it
by Theleeroy; ; Report
Raccoon
Thx An. It should be the parents' responsibility to moderate their children but sadly some either don't know or ignores what their kids do on the Internet and it can be scarring (coming from experience).
Seeing horrible gore made me be a lot safer/more careful around lathes and other machinery lol
Also made me think twice before jumping off of cliffs for fun like the other macho guys because hey, I saw that Puerto Rican kid that thought he could clear the concrete bridge pillar with his jump and land in the water and he in fact could NOT. Much to his skull's dismay.
Also made me thankful to be in America where we don't tie gays up and throw them to their death off of buildings with the whole town watching like in the middle east. Or send people to slave labor camps for decades under the threat of killing their families if they don't perform like in North Korea.
A dose/taste of reality even when it feels bad doesn't mean that it was bad for you.
Just like going to the gym can hurt at first but it's good for you in the long run.
by MAD SCIENCE; ; Report
hikki-ko
thank you An! keep working hard, it's probably just as frustrating for you as it is for our friends in the UK
we will all get through this together (over VPN), the indie web isn't going anywhere u.u <3
βｑοΎβοΈο½‘βｑ LG οΎβΎ οΎο½‘β ΛαΛ
An being an absolute gigachad and not even thinking about including a Twitter link. move to bsky, people!!!
Λββ§κ°α ππππππππππ ΰ»κ± β§βΛ
I hate that the governments want to censor the internet, internet is a free place for everyone, not a place for countries having all of your information and for companies selling your data >:(
Jacob Persico
People have to make these really stupid rules that censor the internet. It's total bull crap!!! You can't even have a platform where kids can send messages to each other. This is so stupid!! I hate this internet censorship BS!!!!!
NOSTROM
World governments trying to not be evil for 5 seconds
Lexi
The parents of Gen Z fucked up to be fair I am not Gen Z and my parents also fucked up then again the internet was only on the computer and the iPhone wasn't around until I got into 8th grade
ππππ
Its ok am using vpn :)
real :D
by π°π¦πͺπ―ππ₯; ; Report
real B)
by Parascoper; ; Report
same lol
by rot; ; Report
IShowEnergy
you could ad a 18+ face scanner so the underage can stay off
The issue is the scanners suck, it cant tell the difference between adults and minors since an 18 ans 17 year old dont have much of a difference in facial features plus many adults look like teens and the other way around; the face scans are getting held with a third party look up the major leaks happening with another app that was for only women to share experiences with dangerous men theyve been with. Their faces with their addresses got leaked.
by Cyraelle; ; Report
sireoja
For the people affected by this stupid law that don't want to pay for a VPN: Tor is also a great alternative. The only downside is that it's slow as hell. Best wishes from Romania <3
PS: while in there you can do a lot more cool stuff with Tor =D
Toby
#liveloveVPNs
Midnight
its ok, im using a VPN :)
Same
by π―ππππππππ; ; Report
Parascoper
does not bite my arse a bit!
Crow
the uk new law is scary for everyone honestly because of the huge privacy breach! and other governments want to implement the same policy's too! the lack of privacy on the internet should concern people more honestly!
Andrew
This censorship is TERRIFYING! As an American citizen, I'm terrified over KOSA, which is the American version of this. They just want to know who we are so they can control us.
Andrew
This censorship is TERRIFYING! As an American citizen, I'm terrified over KOSA, which is the American version of this. They just want to know who we are so they can control us.
I agree
by β©β ππππ_π»ππππβ β©; ; Report
β«οΈ β―starβ― β«οΈ
this is censorship in full swing! The UK isn't the only country cracking down on internet privacy, if that's threatened, think about the other chances privacy could be intruded! Deplorable stuff.