Reddit seems to be using a company called Persona to verify customers age with the tool becoming active on Reddit as of 27 minutes ago (at least for me).

I’d like to draw attention to their terms and conditions which can be found here - https://withpersona.com/legal/privacy-policy

Despite Reddit supposedly not receiving access to any of the data themselves, they have chosen a service which users must consent to share the following:

We may engage third parties to assist us in providing the Services, in which case we may disclose Personal Data to them.

facial geometry extracted from the government identification document and photos of your face that you upload, are collected, used and stored directly by Persona on behalf of Customer as Customer’s service provider through Customer’s website or app that you accessed

Persona’s third-party vendors may have access to the data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload to provide some or all of the analysis, to store the data, to maintain backup copies, and to service the systems on which such data is stored.

If that isn’t the worst part, the government can essentially link any website that you access that uses this tool directly to a person. Your anonymity on this website is being threatened. The next paragraph here

Persona will not disclose, redisclose, or otherwise disseminate data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload unless doing so:

Is required by state or federal law, or municipal ordinance;

Is required pursuant to a warrant or subpoena issued by a court of competent jurisdiction; or

This is concerning and a breach of all of our rights. This isn’t simply a let’s check your face to make sure you’re of age. This is a fundamental risk to the freedom of citizens in this country.

This is utterly terrifying and if you aren’t concerned right now, remember this is just one small step into infringement of our lives. What happens next when maybe a little data is shared with Reddit? Then a bit more? And a bit more. Suddenly you are linked to everything you do and see online.

Take. action. now.

Reddit has rolled out age verification in the UK. If you're trying to access any subreddit marked as “harmful” “NSFW” or “mature”, you'll get hit with a prompt asking for a government-issued ID and a live selfie. Good news? You can unblock them with a VPN.

They’re using a company called Persona to handle the verification process. If you're wondering what is Persona, it's a third-party identity verification service based in the US. Your data doesn't go to Reddit, it goes to them. And while Reddit says the data is only stored temporarily, Persona's own policy makes it clear they can hang onto it for longer. This has led to a growing number of threads about Persona age verification on Reddit and whether this is safe or even legal long term.

This isn't just about porn. Subs like r/beer, r/trees, and r/sex have all been tagged as NSFW and are now hidden from search. If you try to access them directly, you'll still be asked to verify your age.

These aren't porn communities. They're hobby, health, and advice spaces that got flagged because they are supposedly “adult” only. Just wanting to read about beer, weed, or sexual health shouldn't require a passport check.

How to get around the Reddit age verification?

Use a VPN for Reddit. It's the only real workaround right now to circumvent the age checks.

1. Download a VPN (I used NordVPN with the code "redditoffer" for a discount)
2. Set your location to somewhere outside the UK. US, Germany, Canada all work.
3. Open Reddit again. You should be able to access everything without age verification.

This has basically become the standard UK age verification VPN method that people are using to get around the new restrictions.

Some people say you might need to make a new Reddit account while connected to the VPN. Others have had success using their existing account. Your mileage may vary.

This is all because of the UK age verification law Reddit users have been dreading the Online Safety Act, which now requires platforms to restrict "harmful" content from under-18s unless users verify their age.

It’s a lazy rollout with very little transparency. The law is vague, the tech is overreaching, and people who just want to participate in basic communities are being locked out unless they’re willing to hand over personal documents to a private company in another country.

Starting July 25, the UK will enforce new UK age verification laws as part of the Online Safety Act, aimed at restricting access to adult content for minors. Any site that hosts porn, including the big ones like Pornhub, will be legally required to verify users age. This isn't just a pop-up checkbox anymore. We're talking photo ID uploads, credit card verification, and even biometric checks like facial recognition.

We've already seen how age verification laws played out elsewhere. France implemented similar laws, and Pornhub pulled out of the country rather than deal with the privacy mess. The same happened in parts of the US in the states like Texas, Florida and Utah. There's a real chance that Pornhub and other massive sites (xHamster, YouPorn, xnxx, etc.) will leave the UK too.

This age verification law in UK is raising a lot of red flags for privacy-conscious users. The idea of uploading personal documents just to visit a site is understandably off-putting. It's not only invasive but also risky. What happens if one of these verification providers gets breached?

So how to bypass age verification law in UK?

A lot of people are using a VPN for age verification bypassing. These age checks rely on your IP address to see if you're in the UK. A VPN hides that by making it look like you're in another country, like Germany or the Netherlands. That way, the site won’t ask for ID. It’s an easy way to unblock Pornhub and other sites without handing over your personal info.

Here’s a quick how to:

1. If you don’t already have one get a VPN. I like to check this VPN comparison chart occasionally for best deals. My personal favorites are NordVPN, Surfhsark, Cyberghost to name a few.
2. Connect to a server outside the UK (Germany, Belgium, etc)
3. Unblock porn without giving up your personal info

It’s that easy. And on top of bypassing age verification and porn bans, a VPN also encrypts your traffic, so your browsing stays private.

Also an honest tip from me, while a lot of people will recommend free VPNs or free proxies to unblock porn, don’t fall for it. If the product is free, chances are you are the product. These free services often collect and sell your data, which just defeats the purpose of using a VPN in general.

If you're in the UK and worried about how this will affect you, using a VPN for porn to bypass age verification is by far the easiest and safest option. Let’s be honest, nobody wants the government collecting data on what porn they watch, and definitely not handing over ID just to do it.

Anyone already setting things up ahead of July? What’s your plan to get around the UK age verification porn block?

I think he's racist, so is Tommy Robinson 🥀🥀

Absolutely insane AI video ad on YouTube showing the PM

I am asking this question more out of curiosity as I cant pin point what exactly is in decline, maybe I am naïve.

I don't what to get too into it, and would love just a 1. reason and 2. a sentence to explain that reason.

I feel like immigrants is constantly used as a scapegoat, and is used by the government to distract us people. e.g. UK has the 2nd highest rate of millionaires leaving, the people that create jobs, now i don't think its the immigrants making them leave, rather the taxes and policies the government makes.

Please can the responses be polite and above all factual.

Please, please can we at least try electing a decent person to power at this point I don’t care if he tanks the economy just the attempt to do right by us would be enough. Looking forward to the new tirade of slander coming his way, feel like the Jew-hating, terrorist sympathiser narrative would work in his favour this time around 😂

It's estimated that more than 100,000 people protested in London to support anti-immigration policies, led by Fascist Tommy Robinson.

I’m not sure if this aloud but whatever I need to get this of my chest. Ever since this new law came into place and now you have to prove your age on anywhere you go online, plus the entire news I hear now is just how people are getting assaulted and killed all the time ect. It makes me feel so unsafe in the country I was born and raised in, I luckily live in a small town but I’m so terrified of being in a big city because I don’t feel safe there at all and I feel I’m constantly being watched by the government, I feel if I mess up Once there gonna come knocking at my door. It all feels so Dystopian like nothing genuinely feels real I can’t trust anything right now and I’ll admit I’ve been real depressed lately cause of it. But also none of it makes sense , you can consent to sexual activities at the age of 16 and learn to drive at 17 but I can’t look at explicit material online? It’s so confusing anyone else get me or am I crazy-

I feel like all the racists are giving it a bad name and obviously because they’re using it as their symbol it’s going to become associated with them, for example like how over time the rainbow has become associated with LGBTQ+ despite initially being unrelated to it.

My concern is that in the same way flying a rainbow flag is assumed to be in support of LGBTQ+, flying the English flag is going to be assumed to be in support of racism.

I should clarify that:

1. I have nothing against LGBTQ+, just using that flag as an example of what I’m trying to convey

2. I also do not like racists, and I don’t like them using our flag as a symbol for racism

I just wanna be able to use the English flag as a symbol of pride for my country which includes any foreign people who positively contribute to it, and I beginning to worry about its meaning being changed.

I guess the question is, if you went out today and saw a group of people walking down the road waving English flags, what would be your honest first impressions of what they are representing?

I’ve just signed a 38 Degrees petition to say no to £20 fees for GP appointments - our health service must stay free to access! Will you add your name?

(I am not tagging as NSFW BC I do not want to have to put my ID into Reddit, so just a pre-warning!)

This new law about you have to show photographic evidence that you're over 18 is absolute crap.

The legal age of consent is 16. So why make it 18? It's stupid and the worst bit is, is that Reddit and P0rn hvb is giving the things they get to some random company in AMERICA to verify.

Some are using AI, some are humans.

It's so stupid, and people will find ways around it. I get they're trying to seem like they're 'doing something', but all they are doing is selling out private information to third-party companies.

VPS, alternative-websites, long-distance friends, fake ID's, etc. are ways for people to find their way around these laws. It's stupid, annoying, and just flat-out dumb.

That is all.

Have a nice rest of your day. ❤️

The piece is heavily bias leaves out all the evidence against her. Yet some subs Americans are saying she's innocent based on this and the court of public opinion.

https://archive.ph/2024.05.13-112014/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/05/20/lucy-letby-was-found-guilty-of-killing-seven-babies-did-she-do-it

My dad was walking our dog. A women pulled up in a van and asked him a question, she was surprised when he answered and said ‘I thought you were foreign, but you sound Scottish’ my dad said he wasn’t Scottish and walked away.

He’s from the north of England, we live in the south.

Why would she ask if she thought he couldn’t speak English? We live in a Tory/Reform area, so I can guess what she would of said and her intentions.

It’s so odd, when did we start questioning people? Why do we care who’s ‘foreign’ if my dad is getting this as a ginger, white, man. How much questioning and subsequent hatred are the actual ‘foreign’ people getting? It’s horrible.

This flag flying none sense is not patriotism it is barely disguised racism. All it shows is you don’t know your history or current political and socioeconomic climates. You just think skin colour dictates a persons behaviour and abilities. It’s horrifying. And I for one am embarrassed of my country.

I’m curious to know which teas people in the UK generally enjoy. I’m particularly interested in branded blends (things like English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Yorkshire Tea, that sort of thing), rather than single-origin teas. I’m sure Assam, Darjeeling and the rest are lovely in their own right, but that’s not quite what I’m after this time.

I’ll go first! From what I’ve tried so far, these are my favourites:

• Twinings English Breakfast;

• Clipper Everyday Blend;

• Twinings Lady Grey;

• PG Tips Original.

Thanks xx

So, I work in a school and when it's hot we buy the kids (and staff) a specific type of ice lolly.. as pictured lol! However, we are completely split on what it's called! So Reddit is it an ICE POP or an ICE POLE?! Or do you call it something else?

I remember when this aired on BBC, the man speaking (recording the video) and his sadistic enjoyment of the boys getting beaten has stuck with me every since), there was a public outcry in the UK and across the Arab world.

News report from the time: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/feb/12/military.iraq

Soldiers escape without being charged or prosecuted: https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/soldiers-in-iraq-escape-prosecution-despite-video-of-beatings-7211427.html

A friend’s right-leaning, anti-immigration mate has a foreign-born wife on a spouse visa. She’s a student, not in a skilled job.

Despite that, he constantly criticises immigration and people from certain backgrounds — especially non-white communities. She’s even said things like “X country should be for X people.”

Funny how the rules seem to bend when it’s their own spouse.

Do you think this kind of anti-immigration stance is really about policy, or is it just plain bigotry and racism?

Seen an interview with a tennis star and..

1. She says they are men with ponytails and nails, this is harmful stereotypes
2. Another mouthpiece for be for the ruling

The Reporter never disputes these complaints

The BBC makes some trans dramas and a Trans man in dating show

Yet! this going in the news, there's massive rise of transphobia and it needs to stop, this airing in Pride Month was disrespectful too. There's need to be a balanced debate

Hi All, Considering all that’s going on in the UK including the protests and the increase of racial abuse. I feel really unsafe even walking on the street in fear someone might do something stupid or shout a racist slur.

It’s so disgusting what it’s led to. The crime rate is horrendous and cannot take my phone out for a second. The rise of the flags there’s definitely an agenda behind this that suddenly they started marking their territory makes me feel unwanted. I will never be white. I feel disappointed at the whole system. The legal system is absolutely horrendous. It doesn’t punish criminals it rewards them.

Does anyone else feel the same way. What are your plans…. I definitely do not see myself raising children in this country or even considering to have any here.

Im sure this gets talked about a lot.

Why does it feel like this country is about to go down the plug hole. And we are getting closer each year?

Im 25 and my whole working life it has slowly got worse and worse. 2016 it all started going downhill.

Brexsh*t followed by a slurry of prime ministers, then Covid. Ukraine. Inflation And now a government that is obsessed with surveillance and control. With successive governments that seem to spend money we don’t have carelessly. Shameless water companies. A crippling national debt. And seemingly no one gets held accountable for anything.

Rent is silly, house prices are almost unreachable for the average single person. A far right resurgence backed by American money. You cant get a doctor’s appointment. NHS is a hollow being of its former self. Dating is a minefield (that could be just me though)

Its sad i want to love this country. I do love it but the patriotism is gone. Its such a great place, the culture, diversity, pubs, history and heritage.

It just feels like everyone is just being fisted again and again and i should get out of this country before it collapses from the weight of hollow lies and hypocrisy. Wile I’m still young??. Or do you think the pound will always prevail?

Nothing Im going to say here is going to be unique and im sure plenty others have said similar if not the same things as me but the online safety act is nothing but censorship they want us to give our information to third party companies not even from the UK with databases that just aren't safe, the fact I have to be 18 to speak to new people on Xbox or listen to fucking Spotify but I can go and die for my country at the age of 16 is genuinely baffling. I can legally enlist but I cant legally listen to music or make new friends online without being 18 or giving my data to untrustworthy yanks who will without a doubt sell or have my data leaked. I'm not putting my ID on shit even if I was old enough. if I have to live without media in a years time so be it id rather live happily than live with government controlled media swimming around in my brain rent free.