[HN Gopher] Bluesky is rolling out age verification in the UK
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Bluesky is rolling out age verification in the UK
Author : donohoe
Score : 8 points
Date : 2025-07-10 21:15 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
| chrisjj wrote:
| > the platform says it will let users verify their age by
| scanning their face
|
| Seriously?
| verdverm wrote:
| From the first paragraph
|
| > the platform says it will let users verify their age by
| scanning their face, uploading an ID, or entering a payment
| card.
|
| Note the "or"
| gs17 wrote:
| Multiple platforms have had that an an option. It's really odd
| as a concept to me, does it only work for very obvious cases
| and for people around 18-30 ask for an ID anyways?
| brikym wrote:
| Error: 403 - Account holder's testicles have not sufficiently
| descended.
| cebert wrote:
| I am willing to give up all my civil liberties if it's for the
| kids...
| bradac56 wrote:
| You do not have 'civil liberties' in the UK. There is no
| Miranda rights and there bill of rights is strictly based on
| the Magna Carta and is not as comprehensive and the US Bill of
| Rights which was based off of the UK version.
|
| Per the wiki:
|
| Civil liberties have been gradually declining in the United
| Kingdom since the late 20th century. Their removal has been
| generally justified by appeals to public safety and National
| Security and hastened on by crises such as the September 11
| attacks, the 7/7 bombings and the 2020 COVID-19
| pandemic.[4][5][6] The pandemic oversaw the introduction of the
| Coronavirus Act 2020, which was described by former Justice of
| the Supreme Court Lord Sumption as "the greatest invasion of
| personal liberty in [the UK's] history."
| omoikane wrote:
| Original blog post:
| https://bsky.social/about/blog/07-10-2025-age-assurance
|
| I was looking for more details on who is considered in-scope,
| e.g. if the determination is decided at account creation time or
| at content access time. Especially considering how the AT
| protocol is a decentralized protocol that is not exclusive to a
| single region, it's not obvious how the enforcement will work.
| skybrian wrote:
| I poked around in the Bluesky repos [1] to figure out where the
| source code is for this feature, but didn't find it. Anyone know?
|
| [1] https://github.com/bluesky-social
| verdverm wrote:
| Here is some of it: https://github.com/bluesky-
| social/atproto/pull/4030
| guywithahat wrote:
| Which is probably for the better, it has developed a relatively
| strong "adult content" community and has a reputation for cp and
| other forms of abuse. I have a certain amount of sympathy for
| them but it also sort of feels self-inflicted
| verdverm wrote:
| > reputation for cp and other forms of abuse
|
| That "reputation" is slander from haters and those who don't
| want others to have nice things
|
| Another example is JD Vance, creating an account, making his
| first post to trans troll [1], and then crowing about how awful
| Bluesky was to him and how he got blocked. He's still posting
| as recently as July 4, but he's really just become mostly a
| social media troll, and Bluesky users generally block trolls
| instead of engaging them
|
| [1]
| https://blebbit.app/at/did:plc:tkspefzlu72575kljanhe3uj/app....
| (3rd of the 3 part post)
| ferf34f4334fg4 wrote:
| > CSAM content on Bluesky has risen ten times in just a week
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41474672
|
| Peculiar hill you choose to die on.
| pfraze wrote:
| And then you can see my reply to that right at the top, so
| thanks, newly created anon account, for helping to add
| clarity to the situation
| joks wrote:
| It is a social media platform that allows image posts. Allowing
| adult content is by design. Draconian "internet safety" laws
| like this one really should not be a reasonable expectation for
| what you will have to put your users through to see nude photos
| on the internet.
|
| I'm also not sure where that supposed reputation is coming
| from, because my experience is that they've been criticized for
| over-moderation, if anything...
| brikym wrote:
| Of course it's in the UK. I'm surprised they don't have an
| internet licence yet but I'm sure it's coming.
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(page generated 2025-07-10 23:01 UTC)