The Online Safety Act: A New Threat to the Fediverse?
The Online Safety Act aims to make the internet safer, but its strict rules could put small Fediverse communities at risk. With limited resources, many admins face tough choices—ramp up moderation, block UK users, or shut down. Can better regulations, tools, and collaboration keep them online?
It's fair to say that I'm a bit of a pessimist when it comes to the Fediverse—if you've read any of my posts on this blog, you'll know that for sure. As much as I enjoy using services like Mastodon and GoToSocial, it's worth pointing out that they come with their pitfalls.
The Fediverse faces many challenges from all angles, and I have serious concerns about the long-term sustainability of the decentralised ecosystem. But now, a new threat is on the horizon in the form of the Online Safety Act.
To summarise, the Online Safety Act is a UK law aimed at making the internet a safer space by forcing major online platforms to take responsibility for the content posted on their sites—think of it as a push for companies to clean up harmful or illegal material and protect kids by verifying ages.
While it’s mainly aimed at big players (think Meta, X, etc.), there’s a lot of talk about how the hefty fines and strict rules might also pressure smaller sites and community forums to either ramp up moderation or risk shutting down, sparking a debate on how to balance safety with online freedom.
Small communities on the Fediverse often juggle limited resources, technical know-how, and volunteer moderation to keep their spaces safe and welcoming. They face challenges like handling harassment and spam without the robust infrastructure of larger platforms, and the decentralised nature means each server has to figure out its own rules and security measures. Plus, technical hiccups, interoperability issues between different servers, and the looming pressure of evolving regulations can all add extra layers of stress to maintaining these online spaces.
As a result, owners of small online communities are being forced to make difficult decisions about how to handle UK users on their services. Some have suggested applying a geo-block on UK users, while others have taken a more drastic approach by shutting down altogether. Check out this page for some examples.
So what is the solution to all this? How can we prevent these sites from closing down?
To prevent these communities from shutting down, I believe we need clearer, more proportional regulations that recognise their limited resources. Legal and financial support, such as grants or free compliance training, could help admins navigate complex rules, while decentralised moderation and peer-to-peer enforcement would reduce the individual burden.
From a developer’s perspective, it would be great to see more progress with open-source moderation tools, allowing moderators to collaborate across platforms—something like shared blocklists to ease content management would be beneficial. By combining smart regulation, better tools, and stronger collaboration, we can help small online spaces stay open and thriving.
