This stupid law needs repealing, or at least altering. It’s ridiculous to censor factual (well, at least – peer reviewed) information.
PotatoeManWTBHHYB on
Sooooo…are we losing Wikipedia or just access to ‘mature’ pages??
denyer-no1-fan on
If you haven’t already – you should get VPN, particularly the paid ones if you don’t want data leakage through a free VPN. Looks like I’ll be adding Wikipedia to my list of websites/apps that will have VPN applied automatically.
TheCommieDuck on
A spokesperson for the Labour Party clarified, “people accessing Wikipedia illegally are terrorist supporters.”
Toums95 on
Given the coming of the AI and the fact that Western governments decided to double down on control and oppression, I would highly suggest that people download Wikipedia to their computer now, before it gets compromised too much somehow. It doesn’t take that much space if you only need the text, but also with pictures it shouldn’t be too much for an external hard drive I think.
Remarkable_Battle614 on
They were always going to lose. Hopefully they’ll block the uk, with a big text saying “due to the uk government, we’re blocking access for uk users. Please contact your MP”
And see how that goes
Afterlast1 on
This is just fucking unacceptable. There’s no reality where accepting this is okay. If your MP won’t repeal this, then take their fucking seat. Run against them. Fire take. Take their fucking job.
Edit: I’m fucking tired man. Does anyone know how to register as a candidate for any of Leicesters seats? I’ll do it my fucking self.
Floor-Goblins-Lament on
I think what is most bizarre to me about this whole act is that none of the politicians supporting it seem to actually know what it does
mcfluffernutter013 on
Labour has absolutely been shitting the bed and it’s almost funny. Just Torries in red
Liam-DGOL on
Pleeeease block the UK and let the UK Gov face the reality from this.
GarySmith2021 on
I can’t wait for Wikipedia to block themselves in the UK, to protect children of course…
cosmic_monsters_inc on
So we’re protecting kids from wiki now? Can we just drop the pretence it had anything to do with porn and is nothing more than a massive online tracking effort.
HorseNCartJohnny on
Predicted this would happen, I have saved all Wikipedia pages I think I might need, as well as up to level 3 of Wikipedia’s recommended articles as pdfs. Hope it gets pulled from the uk so more people start to kick up a fuss
ilikebiiiigdicks on
Id write to my MP but its Keir fucking Starmer and he clearly doesn’t listen to good advice.
These-Barnaclez on
Educate me. What’s stopping Starmer from repealing this law.
And a serious answer based on the legal restrictions. Not cos he’s a twat
Affectionate_Role849 on
I hope Labour gets obliterated at the next election like the Tories did, and if Reform get in it’s entirely Labours doing.
Hellstorm901 on
I knew this was coming, Starmer was never going to make an exception for anyone as other companies would try to use the exception too
So Wikipedia will restrict access to UK users and the OSA defenders will continue to lie to you that it is only about protecting children when really the simple but harsh truth is an excuse to bad parents to blame their child neglect on big bad internet companies
FearlessPressure3 on
I sent a message to my MP complaining about this law and have been totally ignored. Well that’s a vote she’s not getting again from me 😡
Loynds on
I’ve already written to my MP about this, but it’s just going to get worse unless the government repeal it. Introduced by Tories and carried out by Starmer’s Labour, just like everything else.
ConnieTheUnicorn on
Well..say goodbye to Wikipedia. I hope they don’t capitulate and just go dark in the UK.
theB1ackSwan on
> She said they decided that Wikipedia “is in principle an appropriate service on which to impose category one duties” and how ministers arrived at that choice was not “without reasonable foundation nor irrational”.
[X] Doubt
MammothPenguin69 on
Britfriends, you now have a universal shutdown phrase for all opposition to repealing the OSA.
“They blocked Wikipedia.”
Please use it.
Any_Inflation_2543 on
I wonder how idiot-in-chief Starmer will explain how losing access to Wikipedia helps fight child pornography…
theB1ackSwan on
Do these MPs think kids are going to Wikipedia to find pictures of buttholes? What the fuck is actually happening that the UK is, more-or-less, censoring *the household-name encyclopedia*?
Zofia-Bosak on
The best thing to do is for Wiki and others to just geo-block the UK, starting now.
CharmingTurnover8937 on
I hope Wikipedia and other large websites block us. Don’t bother trying to argue around this ridiculous law, go scorched earth and ban us from everything. Only then will the government get the message.
The sheer arrogance of our Government to even pass this bill and expect everyone to bow down to it is disgusting. I can’t express how much I despise this administration. They had every chance to try and fix things from the last disastrous government, but instead they chose to continue fucking things up for everyone.
No Labour. No Tories.
Never again.
Astriania on
This is more of a “loses on a technicality” based on them not being categorised as Category 1 at this point in time. Idk if you guys read the article or what.
It probably is stupid that Wikipedia might be treated this way, although there probably is child-inappropriate material on there to be fair.
But all you people complaining about the OSA need to propose some practical way of addressing the problem, unless you actually think it’s ok for 12 year olds to access porn and terrorist videos (which we certainly didn’t think was acceptable in the pre-Internet era).
Vdubnub88 on
Anybody else still think this is about porn websites and child safety? Or are people going to wake up and realise this is censorship and control.
Im sober of alcohol after a death of a family member, almost 3 years. I use an app called “I am Sober” which has helped me connect with people having similar struggles, but because of the online safety act, i cant access it. Its really bad to cut sombody off from that support network. Thats my point.
chin_waghing on
I wrote something a while ago saying by the UK’s very own laws Wikipedia _should_ in theory be banned, I don’t actually expect them to do it… I clearly was wrong.
The ignorant masses might figure out why this is so bad then.
JayxEx on
This is authoritarian goverment, just want to remind you guys that UK does not have a constitution like many other Western countries by design to have peasants always enslaved by the ruling class
ImTalkingGibberish on
Labour gets the chance in a gazillion years because Tories fucked up hilariously and they manage to speed run an even worse leadership.
eldomtom2 on
Official Wikimedia Foundation statement:
> [UPDATE: On Monday, 11 August, the High Court of Justice dismissed the Wikimedia Foundation’s challenge to the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) Categorisation Regulations. While the decision does not provide the immediate legal protections for Wikipedia that we hoped for, the Court’s ruling emphasized the responsibility of Ofcom and the UK government to ensure Wikipedia is protected as the OSA is implemented.](https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2025/08/11/wikimedia-foundation-challenges-uk-online-safety-act-regulations/)
> [The judge recognized the “significant value” of Wikipedia, its safety for users, as well as the damages that wrongly-assigned OSA categorisations and duties could have on the human rights of Wikipedia’s volunteer contributors. The Court stressed that this ruling “does not give Ofcom and the Secretary of State a green light to implement a regime that would significantly impede Wikipedia’s operations”, and indicated they could face legal repercussions if they fail to protect Wikipedia and the rights of its users. In order to achieve that outcome, he suggested that Ofcom may need to find a particularly flexible interpretation of the rules in question, or that the rules themselves may need amendment in Parliament.](https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2025/08/11/wikimedia-foundation-challenges-uk-online-safety-act-regulations/)
33 Comments
This stupid law needs repealing, or at least altering. It’s ridiculous to censor factual (well, at least – peer reviewed) information.
Sooooo…are we losing Wikipedia or just access to ‘mature’ pages??
If you haven’t already – you should get VPN, particularly the paid ones if you don’t want data leakage through a free VPN. Looks like I’ll be adding Wikipedia to my list of websites/apps that will have VPN applied automatically.
A spokesperson for the Labour Party clarified, “people accessing Wikipedia illegally are terrorist supporters.”
Given the coming of the AI and the fact that Western governments decided to double down on control and oppression, I would highly suggest that people download Wikipedia to their computer now, before it gets compromised too much somehow. It doesn’t take that much space if you only need the text, but also with pictures it shouldn’t be too much for an external hard drive I think.
They were always going to lose. Hopefully they’ll block the uk, with a big text saying “due to the uk government, we’re blocking access for uk users. Please contact your MP”
And see how that goes
This is just fucking unacceptable. There’s no reality where accepting this is okay. If your MP won’t repeal this, then take their fucking seat. Run against them. Fire take. Take their fucking job.
Edit: I’m fucking tired man. Does anyone know how to register as a candidate for any of Leicesters seats? I’ll do it my fucking self.
I think what is most bizarre to me about this whole act is that none of the politicians supporting it seem to actually know what it does
Labour has absolutely been shitting the bed and it’s almost funny. Just Torries in red
Pleeeease block the UK and let the UK Gov face the reality from this.
I can’t wait for Wikipedia to block themselves in the UK, to protect children of course…
So we’re protecting kids from wiki now? Can we just drop the pretence it had anything to do with porn and is nothing more than a massive online tracking effort.
Predicted this would happen, I have saved all Wikipedia pages I think I might need, as well as up to level 3 of Wikipedia’s recommended articles as pdfs. Hope it gets pulled from the uk so more people start to kick up a fuss
Id write to my MP but its Keir fucking Starmer and he clearly doesn’t listen to good advice.
Educate me. What’s stopping Starmer from repealing this law.
And a serious answer based on the legal restrictions. Not cos he’s a twat
I hope Labour gets obliterated at the next election like the Tories did, and if Reform get in it’s entirely Labours doing.
I knew this was coming, Starmer was never going to make an exception for anyone as other companies would try to use the exception too
So Wikipedia will restrict access to UK users and the OSA defenders will continue to lie to you that it is only about protecting children when really the simple but harsh truth is an excuse to bad parents to blame their child neglect on big bad internet companies
I sent a message to my MP complaining about this law and have been totally ignored. Well that’s a vote she’s not getting again from me 😡
I’ve already written to my MP about this, but it’s just going to get worse unless the government repeal it. Introduced by Tories and carried out by Starmer’s Labour, just like everything else.
Well..say goodbye to Wikipedia. I hope they don’t capitulate and just go dark in the UK.
> She said they decided that Wikipedia “is in principle an appropriate service on which to impose category one duties” and how ministers arrived at that choice was not “without reasonable foundation nor irrational”.
[X] Doubt
Britfriends, you now have a universal shutdown phrase for all opposition to repealing the OSA.
“They blocked Wikipedia.”
Please use it.
I wonder how idiot-in-chief Starmer will explain how losing access to Wikipedia helps fight child pornography…
Do these MPs think kids are going to Wikipedia to find pictures of buttholes? What the fuck is actually happening that the UK is, more-or-less, censoring *the household-name encyclopedia*?
The best thing to do is for Wiki and others to just geo-block the UK, starting now.
I hope Wikipedia and other large websites block us. Don’t bother trying to argue around this ridiculous law, go scorched earth and ban us from everything. Only then will the government get the message.
The sheer arrogance of our Government to even pass this bill and expect everyone to bow down to it is disgusting. I can’t express how much I despise this administration. They had every chance to try and fix things from the last disastrous government, but instead they chose to continue fucking things up for everyone.
No Labour. No Tories.
Never again.
This is more of a “loses on a technicality” based on them not being categorised as Category 1 at this point in time. Idk if you guys read the article or what.
It probably is stupid that Wikipedia might be treated this way, although there probably is child-inappropriate material on there to be fair.
But all you people complaining about the OSA need to propose some practical way of addressing the problem, unless you actually think it’s ok for 12 year olds to access porn and terrorist videos (which we certainly didn’t think was acceptable in the pre-Internet era).
Anybody else still think this is about porn websites and child safety? Or are people going to wake up and realise this is censorship and control.
Im sober of alcohol after a death of a family member, almost 3 years. I use an app called “I am Sober” which has helped me connect with people having similar struggles, but because of the online safety act, i cant access it. Its really bad to cut sombody off from that support network. Thats my point.
I wrote something a while ago saying by the UK’s very own laws Wikipedia _should_ in theory be banned, I don’t actually expect them to do it… I clearly was wrong.
Anyway, get a VPN, use Mullvad it’s fast and reasonably priced and I wrote a guide for UniFi: https://documentation.breadnet.co.uk/kb/ubiquiti/unifi-mullvad-vpn/
I hope they just geoblock the UK
The ignorant masses might figure out why this is so bad then.
This is authoritarian goverment, just want to remind you guys that UK does not have a constitution like many other Western countries by design to have peasants always enslaved by the ruling class
Labour gets the chance in a gazillion years because Tories fucked up hilariously and they manage to speed run an even worse leadership.
Official Wikimedia Foundation statement:
> [UPDATE: On Monday, 11 August, the High Court of Justice dismissed the Wikimedia Foundation’s challenge to the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) Categorisation Regulations. While the decision does not provide the immediate legal protections for Wikipedia that we hoped for, the Court’s ruling emphasized the responsibility of Ofcom and the UK government to ensure Wikipedia is protected as the OSA is implemented.](https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2025/08/11/wikimedia-foundation-challenges-uk-online-safety-act-regulations/)
> [The judge recognized the “significant value” of Wikipedia, its safety for users, as well as the damages that wrongly-assigned OSA categorisations and duties could have on the human rights of Wikipedia’s volunteer contributors. The Court stressed that this ruling “does not give Ofcom and the Secretary of State a green light to implement a regime that would significantly impede Wikipedia’s operations”, and indicated they could face legal repercussions if they fail to protect Wikipedia and the rights of its users. In order to achieve that outcome, he suggested that Ofcom may need to find a particularly flexible interpretation of the rules in question, or that the rules themselves may need amendment in Parliament.](https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2025/08/11/wikimedia-foundation-challenges-uk-online-safety-act-regulations/)
> [If the ruling stands, the first categorization decisions from Ofcom are expected this summer. The Foundation will continue to seek solutions to protect Wikipedia and the rights of its users as the OSA continues to be implemented.](https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2025/08/11/wikimedia-foundation-challenges-uk-online-safety-act-regulations/)