Look, a little bird!

UK legislation: Online Safety Act 2023

Brazil legislation: Digital Statute For Children And Adolescents

Apple App Store Age Verification

These are not tumblr specific policies. Tumblr is implementing age verification in response to legislative moves that were made months ago.

Tumblr is a failing social media site that has escaped death multiple times already; they do not have the social cachet to defy state regulatory agencies. We know they won't say no to Apple, either--the porn ban on tumblr was in response to Apple's crackdown on explicit content.

If you did not know this was happening, you were behind the curve. That is fine. You're caught up now. The next step is to link up with people in your country who are working to preserve privacy, to roll back these laws where they exist, and to prevent their passage where they do not. In the US the organization you want is Stop KOSA--in the EU you can start with Fight Chat Control.

"I use a VPN!" Your ISP can see when you initially connect to a VPN. The VPN company will comply with a subpoena.

"My socials don't have my real name!" What about the email to register that social? What about your wifi provider? They provide the IP address from which you're frequently logging in. Don't they have your information?

Your cell carrier will comply with a subpoena.

You ISP will comply with a subpoena.

So will Google, Apple, Yahoo, Meta, Tumblr, Twitter, you name it. None of them will fight the government on behalf of a random person they don't care about.

This is why fighting for online privacy laws, real actual privacy laws, is so important. It's why using services with end-to-end encryption is so important. It's why if you don't want any chance of law enforcement to know about something, you cannot post about it online in any way.

I have reblogged some art that was sooo cute about this ship but I don't ship it per se!! I prefer to think of them as friends :)

More thoughts under the cut

Hun and Pol were actually in a Union a couple times before the plc! Which is fun to think about with how we se Feliks act with strangers. I think therefore Hun [I need to step up my game and settle on a medieval name for him] didn't actually see him at all the first time around, which together with the political unrest was pretty uncomfortable for both of them.

To continue our commitment to user safety and to comply with local laws, we will start using age groups to determine access to certain experiences.

People in Brazil or in the UK, who are 18 or older, will soon need to verify their age to change content label settings and view mature-labeled content. Until then, the settings will be locked to hide.

As a reminder, verification is handled by our age-assurance partner, k-ID. Tumblr won't have access to the information you submit, just the final age-verification result. Documents are deleted after confirmation, and facial scan data never leaves your device. 

Tumblr has evolved a lot over the years, but some things never change. It remains a home for fandom, culture, and self-expression, where originality is celebrated and creativity doesn’t follow a formula. And we’ve maintained our commitment to user safety and being a responsible actor in any place our users may be. Sometimes that means updating our practices to keep up with the changing internet.  

Starting today, to comply with local laws, some users in Australia will need to verify their age to keep using their account (including all new users). If we need you to verify your age, you'll be prompted to provide additional information to help us confirm you meet the age requirement. If you’re not meeting the criteria yet, don’t worry, Tumblr will still be there for you, and we can’t wait to have you join us on the platform. 

We are working with a reputable partner to provide you with multiple verification methods. You may already be familiar with some of these methods: ConnectID, Photo ID, AgeKey, or using a selfie. You can read more here.

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