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layout: post
date: 2025-08-12
link: https://www.techdirt.com/2025/08/04/didnt-take-long-to-reveal-the-uks-online-safety-act-is-exactly-the-privacy-crushing-failure-everyone-warned-about/
title: The Privacy-Crushing Failure Everyone Warned About
cited: Techdirt

---

> Well, well, well. The "age assurance" part of the UK's Online Safety Act has finally gone into effect, with its age checking requirements kicking in a week and a half ago. And what do you know? It's turned out to be exactly the privacy-invading, freedom-crushing, technically unworkable disaster that everyone with half a brain [predicted it would be](https://www.techdirt.com/tag/online-safety-bill/).