An amendment to the Children Wellbeing and Schools Bill would give UK Ministers the power to enact a social media ban on under-16s.

This would bypass Parliament and any democratic oversight on a measure that could only work by having everyone prove their age.

Our rights cannot be an afterthought.

#ageverification #privacy #dataprotection #ukpolitics #ukpol #socialmedia

We have no choice, no voice over a privacy intrusive system that's being embedded into everyday Internet use.

It's the platforms that decide on the age verificationprovider.

Users are unaware of the investors behind these companies or the links to wider surveillance, online advertising and intelligence networks.

#ageverification #privacy #dataprotection #bigtech #onlinesafetyact #ukpolitics #ukpol #socialmedia

The UK government risks creating a new layer of digital infrastructure that concentrates power over identity, biometrics and access to public life in the hands of private companies.

Age gating VPNs, AI Chat bots, or features like infinitive scrolling would expand the reach of age verification.

#ageverification #privacy #dataprotection #bigtech #onlinesafetyact #ukpolitics #ukpol #vpn #socialmedia

ORG calls on the UK government, ICO and Ofcom to establish compulsory privacy and security standards for age verification providers.

This is critical to protect users’ sensitive data as this unregulated industry grows more powerful with each attempt to treat the symptom, not the cause of online harms.

#ageverification #privacy #dataprotection #ukpolitics #ukpol #socialmedia