The UK social media ban for under-16s does nothing to sort out the harms caused by platforms.

Harmful content is a product of a business model that uses data to drive engagement and target users with ads.

Digital ID checks feed more data into this system, while leaving the engine for harms unchecked.

Read our response ⬇️

openrightsgroup.org/press-rele…

#socialmediaban #socialmedia #stopkillinginternet #ukpolitics #ukpol #onlinesafety #ageverification #StopKillingInternet #StopKillingTheInternet

Starmer’s social media ban fails to address root causes of online harms

Open Rights Group has responded to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement that the Government will ban social media, including gaming sites, for under 16s in the UK.

^{Open Rights Group}

🚨 Upgrade or be hacked. 🚨

There is a "hacker" group (script kiddies) targeting Mastodon sites that are not yet running Mastodon 4.5.10.

Version 4.5.10 fixes several security vulnerabilities that are relatively easy to exploit and were discovered in earlier versions of Mastodon.

If you're not running 4.5.10 (or newer), you are at risk. ⚠️

If you're using a nightly build of Mastodon, make sure you're running one that was released after the release date of 4.5.10. And yes, I said release date, not version number — earlier 4.6 nightly builds do not include the security patch. ⚠️

If you're delaying the update because you're running a modified version of Mastodon, consider whether maintaining those modifications is worth the security risk. ⚠️

#Mastodon #Security #CyberSecurity #MastoAdmin #FediAdmin #OnlineSafety

Privacy is online safety ✊️

That's why the UK government gets it so wrong with ever more online ID checks.

Either sensitive data gets stockpiled for attack, or people are driven to riskier parts of the Internet. It's lose-lose.

⏰️ We have the chance to tell them in the consultation by 26 May.

Have your say ➡️ gov.uk/government/consultation…

#onlinesafety #privacy #digitalID #ageverification #consultation #ukpolitics #ukpol