The roots of Britain’s online censorship crisis go back almost a decade, to MindGeek, now rebranded as Aylo, the scandal-ridden company behind Pornhub. This tax-dodging, exploitative porn empire worked closely with the UK government to develop an age-verification system called AgeID, a plan that would have effectively handed Aylo a monopoly over legal adult content by making smaller competitors pay or perish. Public backlash killed AgeID in 2019, but the idea survived.

Fuck me, that explains A LOT. I don’t know why I didn’t think “regulate the competition away” was an actual move for this bullshit

Wikipedia now faces this exact threat. In August 2025, the High Court dismissed the Wikimedia Foundation’s challenge to the categorisation rules, clearing the way for Ofcom to treat it as a high-risk platform. The foundation has warned that compliance would force it to censor vital information and endanger volunteer editors by linking their real identities to their writing. If it refuses, the UK could, in theory, be legally empowered to block access altogether, a breathtaking example of how “child protection” becomes a tool for information control.

I’m sure those lemmings that firmly believed this shit was to “protect children” think this is an acceptable loss.

The most insidious feature of this legislative trend is how it absolves parents while empowering the state.

This should be a stamped headline across the entirety of bri’in and other EU countries. Even if you trust your government today, there’s no guarantee you’ll continue trusting a future one.