Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
It’s been one week since the British government’s odious ‘Online Safety Act’ came into force and basically everything on the Internet is now blocked.
The legislation was presented as an effort to protect children from seeing things they shouldn’t be seeing online.
However, to absolutely no one’s surprise, it’s already being used to eviscerate free speech.
The first thing that was blocked were videos of protests outside hotels where the government is housing illegal immigrants on the taxpayer’s dime.
British users of X shared screenshots of messages that popped up while they attempted to view footage from the protests, which started in Epping after a migrant sexually assaulted a teenage girl and have since spread around the country.
But they won’t stop burglars and thieves. Backwards. pic.twitter.com/Bas7F4MXb7
— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) July 27, 2025
The Telegraph report states:
An elite team of police officers is to monitor social media for anti-migrant sentiment amid fears of summer riots.
Detectives will be drawn from forces across the country to take part in a new investigations unit that will flag up early signs of potential civil unrest.
The division, assembled by the Home Office, will aim to “maximise social media intelligence” gathering after police forces were criticised over their response to last year’s riots.
Probably purely a coincidence, right?
Also probably purely a coincidence that a shady government outfit now known as the National Security and Online Information Team (NSOIT) has been lobbying social media companies to take action against users who post what it describes as “concerning narratives” about immigration and ‘two tier policing’.
Previously known as the ‘Counter Disinformation Unit’, it was formerly tasked with identifying and monitoring COVID lockdown dissenters during the pandemic.
Today we learn that this spying operation actively used web trawling tools originally created to hunt for jihadist terrorists to find critics of ‘asylum’ hotels instead.
A Whitehall “disinformation” unit used tools created to hunt for jihadists to find critics of asylum hotels, The Telegraph can reveal
Read the full piece by Tony Diver here⤵️https://t.co/25vJWuJdWA pic.twitter.com/QrCcVGZqwY
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 3, 2025
While censoring dissenting voices is evidently a primary focus for elements within the British Deep State, a whole host of other stuff has been blocked.
Whether this is intentional and nefarious or just a result of the massively broad terms of what the government could possibly consider ‘harmful’ or ‘hateful’ content, or whether the social media companies just don’t know, or just don’t want to take any chances, remains to be determined.
X user Chris Middleton shared an enraging thread of some of the stuff Brits can’t see anymore.
The Act gives Ofcom powers to slap platforms with fines of up to 10% of global turnover for “harmful” content.
“Harmful” is so vague that companies are over-censoring in order to avoid trouble.
It’s not protecting kids. It’s incentivising mass censorship.
— Chris Middleton (@ChrisMid) August 1, 2025
MP @Katie_Lam_MP says content on rape gangs is being suppressed.
Her take: “The state won’t stop mass gang rape but will stop adults hearing about it.”
This isn’t a safety feature. This is how states hide their own failures.https://t.co/HURgJaRWwL
— Chris Middleton (@ChrisMid) August 1, 2025
Yes, can’t talk about that. We all know why.
Every day with this. But you’re a fascist if you protest it. https://t.co/q9ci4kqT6W
— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) August 3, 2025
Can you even see that post? Probably not if you’re in the UK.
And as already mentioned…
The Free Speech Union (@SpeechUnion) backs this up: A video of police arresting a protester on X was quickly blocked for UK users.
This used to be something we mocked in authoritarian states. Now it’s happening in Britain.https://t.co/TfbzJ7yFwl
— Chris Middleton (@ChrisMid) August 1, 2025
A witty X account exposing how awful Britain has become, also blocked.
It gets more absurd. @kunley_drukpa says @MythoYookay, an account that ironically enough, satirises the UK’s decline, is also being censored.
When even satire is being restricted in the UK, things have clearly gone too far.https://t.co/nv1PZ2CiMT
— Chris Middleton (@ChrisMid) August 1, 2025
A whole host of other innocuous things…
Even baby name stats aren’t safe. @ZiaYusufUK says an article noting no UK babies were named “Keir” last year also got blocked.
Over-censorship that is so ridiculous it would be funny if it wasn’t so serious.https://t.co/LinJx2P0Nf
— Chris Middleton (@ChrisMid) August 1, 2025
Spotify…You cant listen to music now without the government’s permission.
And it’s not just social media.
Spotify now demands ID for “adult” content or risks suspending accounts, as reported by @visegrad24.
Music platforms are now digital ID checkpoints.https://t.co/fn2679nuHW
— Chris Middleton (@ChrisMid) August 1, 2025
Absolutely insane, and we’re only one week into this.
The Online Safety Act is clearly not just about protecting children.
It is a poorly worded law, written by people who don’t understand the internet.
Oh, and if you disagree with it, Labour says you’re “on the side of predators”.https://t.co/BnkmipDWDv
— Chris Middleton (@ChrisMid) August 1, 2025
A petition to repeal the censorship has almost half a million signatures at time of writing.
Over 467,300 signatures for repeal. https://t.co/EJ9BRbZ4f4
— Kathleen Tyson (@Kathleen_Tyson_) August 1, 2025
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