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Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by 0x3f on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @05:53AM (#46690441)
Porn block ineffective at capturing enough personal data. UK considers how it can build its own great firewall.
Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by blitzar on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @05:57AM (#46690473)
The UK has had a great firewall for decades - try going to a kiddie porn site or a torrent site and you will be unable to connect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_blocking_in_the_United_Kin...

Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by 0x3f on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @06:32AM (#46690750)
Very unimpressive compared to China. Typical, the UK lagging behind on tech.
Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by badgersnake on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @06:00AM (#46690496)
It’s just DNS though isn’t it. Trivial to bypass, some ISPs don’t even bother.
Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by iso1631 on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @06:14AM (#46690579)
What amused me is shortly after cutting the UK off from pornhub etc, the UK then tried to ban porn sites from porn with strangling -- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyk3qzq7k7o

If they had instead gone on a "porn sites that would obey the ID law need to flag themselves via this system and ISPs/phone providers should block them by default and only the account holder can enable it", then they would actually have some leverage over mindgeek (or whoever), and would be able to remove that subset.

But instead people in the UK now either use a vpn to bypass it and thus will also bypass this new law, or go to far dodgier sites which ignore the requirements that the commercial ones follow, driving teenage boys (and adult men) into the arms of sites with incest, bestiality, snuff etc, rather than this generation's equivelent of playboy.

Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by dispo on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @06:19AM (#46690626)
Or they could consciously choose to not bypass the restrictions and to not consume pornography.

If they are seeking out vile material like incest, animal rape and sexualised murder then the blame lays entirely on them, not the government.

I mean what is even your point? Male depravity is unavoidable, and men are mindless ejaculators with no free will to curb abnormal sexual behaviours?

Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by 0x3f on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @06:23AM (#46690667)
As far as I know, consumption of "socially-undesirable" pornography is correlated with a reduction in the corresponding acts themselves. Should we presume you're anti-depiction then, but pro actus reus?
Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by iso1631 on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @06:23AM (#46690668)
They aren't, they're choosing bouncing boobs. The only sites left to them are the ones that were already illegal. Or a VPN service, which means the UK has no voice in the mainstream sites.

You turn people off the professional sites which can be held accountable and they end up on the dark side of the internet.

America saw the same thing when the puritans banned alcohol last century, people ran right into the arms of organised crime.

Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by dispo on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @06:27AM (#46690706)
Like I said, these men could choose to not consume pornography at all. The responsibility for what they decide to access online lies with them.

No-one is forcing them to buy a VPN and visit pornography websites.

Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by 0x3f on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @06:29AM (#46690729)
Well no-one is forcing me to wear pink on Sundays. This mere fact is not exactly an argument for banning the practice, is it?
Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by squigz on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @05:58AM (#46690487)
Did you just equate a social media ban and torrenting to... child pornography?
Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by benjojo12 on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @06:00AM (#46690502)
No, he gave two different examples of websites that is typically blocked in the United Kingdom
Re:UK consulting on bringing in social media ban for under 16s by umanwizard on Tuesday January 20, 2026 @06:22AM (#46690662)
Pointing out an analogy between two things, or describing them as two examples of a more general phenomenon, is not “equating” them.