Earlier today,the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act officially went into effect. The OSA has required websites to comply with an age verification process for anything involving the potential for adult material. The full list is, suffice it to say, thousands of websites long, but some of the most notable examples include Reddit,Nexus Mods, and Discord.
While the specific measures being taken have varied from site to site, Discord’s own practices have involved gating users from age-restricted channels, sensitive servers, or even their own DMs. In a twist that would feel right at home in any number of heavy-handed Hideo Kojima storytelling metaphors, however, some UK citizens are turning to a fictional character named Sam Porter Bridges to build an artifical gateway straight past the Online Safety Act.
Reconnecting The World
Within hours of the OSA going into effect,social media accounts began reportingone of the funniest technological oversights I’ve ever seen. (Pretty soon,PC Gamerdoubled down on the trick’s authenticity!) By taking selfies of Norman Reedus' protagonist in Death Stranding andDeath Stranding 2, users haven’t just circumvented Discord’s verification tool - they’ve downright fooled it into believing that they are Norman Reedus.
A strangely digitized Norman Reedus, perhaps, but that doesn’t seem to bother Discord’s sensors. And, well, seeing as Reedus himself is 56 years old, and Sam is maybe around that ballpark in the recent sequel (?), that’s enough to pass the “are you at least 18” query with flying colours. After all, theideahere has been to scan your ID, or (!) your own face, to confirm that you’re not a minor.
How long will this work? I don’t know. How should we even feel about this? I’m not sure about that one, either. It’s a heck of an in-depth conversation with conflicting stances galore. Which is exactly how Hideo Kojima envisioned this day, innit. Something-something-something, “what a genius.”
