UK
TikTok Says Privacy Makes Users Less Safe
TikTok built a surveillance-ready messaging system and called it a safety feature.
Google Opens Android App Distribution, Cuts Play Store Fees After Epic Antitrust Loss
Google lost in court, lost on appeal, lost at the Supreme Court, and is now describing the result as something it chose to do.
UK Consults on Social Media Age Verification While Directing Parents to Report “Hate Speech” to Big Tech
The consultation closes in May, but Parliament already handed ministers the power to act in February.
UK Government Secretly Tracked 25 Million People as Potential EV Owners
Two years of surveillance, £600,000 spent, and the program ended not because anyone asked if it was wrong, but because the data was garbage.
A UK Labour Minister Just Resigned Over a Secret Plot to Silence Journalists Using a Spy Agency
Simons was accused of running a thinktank dedicated to fighting “disinformation,” then used a government intelligence body to spread it.
Republican Lawmakers Demand Answers on UK’s iCloud Encryption Backdoor Order
Britain’s demand that Apple build a backdoor for everyone on earth, then quietly reframe it as a domestic matter after Washington pushed back, is the kind of legal gymnastics that makes intelligence lawyers nervous on both sides of the Atlantic.
MembersThe Revolt Brewing Over Discord’s Digital ID Future
Every concession Discord offered this week is a reason to stay distracted while the architecture of permanent surveillance gets bolted into place.
Twitch Forces Partners to Show ID To Persona to Collect Earnings
Twitch is asking streamers to hand over a government ID and selfie to a controversial third-party service to collect money they’ve already earned.
iPhone Software Beta’s UK Age Verification Screen Raises Questions
The screen Apple called an “error” revealed exactly how the company plans to use your credit history, account age, and payment data to decide what you’re allowed to download.
UK’s Reddit Fine Forces Users Into Mass Biometric Surveillance
Reddit’s fix for protecting children’s data requires adults to hand their face and government ID to a third-party system that runs 269 verification checks per person.
Xbox UK Age Verification Launch Locks Out Thousands of Players
The UK’s age verification mandate arrived as promised, and Xbox delivered it by ejecting players mid-session, stripping away chat, and treating 18-year account holders like suspicious strangers.
US Plans freedom.gov Website to Host Content Banned by EU and UK Censorship Laws
The portal is Washington’s opening move in a direct confrontation with European governments over who gets to decide what their citizens can read.