DownWith ₿ig ₿rother on Nostr: The UK Can’t Stop Nostr — And That’s Exactly Why It Matters by ...
The UK Can’t Stop Nostr — And That’s Exactly Why It Matters
by @DownWithBigBrother
The UK’s Online Safety Act is now in full swing — a sprawling piece of legislation marketed as protecting users from “harmful” content, but in reality serving as a blunt instrument for state-sanctioned speech control. Already, it’s reaching beyond UK borders. U.S.-based platform Gab was recently told to comply with UK law or face fines of up to £18 million. Their crime? Hosting speech the UK doesn’t like.
But here’s the thing the government hasn’t figured out yet:
What happens when they try this with Nostr?
The answer is simple.
They can’t.
Nostr isn’t a company. It has no CEO, no office, no government registry. It’s a protocol, not a platform — a set of open standards for communication, not a product with a support desk and legal department. And that makes it fundamentally ungovernable by the authoritarian creep of legacy institutions.
The UK can’t shut down Nostr any more than it can shut down math.
There’s no “off switch.” No central server to seize.
What it can do is panic — and it’s starting to.
Expect them to try the usual playbook:
• Pressure Apple and Google to remove Nostr apps like Damus or Primal from UK app stores
• Block relay domains at the ISP level
• Threaten UK-based developers or relay operators
• Criminalize use of “non-compliant” software in extreme cases
But none of it will work. Nostr is too decentralized, too adaptive, and too alive. Block one relay? Ten more spring up. Remove an app? Fork it and re-release. Criminalize access? People route around it with Tor and VPNs. You can’t erase a protocol without erasing the internet.
And let’s be very clear — this is not just about technology.
It’s about sovereignty.
Personal, digital, and national.
Nostr doesn’t just protect free speech.
It restores it — in a world that’s rapidly forgetting what it means.
It breaks the illusion that governments can regulate truth by committee.
So when the UK tries to apply the Online Safety Act to Nostr, it will expose not Nostr’s weakness, but the state’s desperation. Every failed attempt will awaken more people. Every blocked relay will remind us what we’re fighting for. And every note — like this one — will continue to be published, seen, and shared.
Because the protocol is the protest.
And the relay is the resistance.
Free speech doesn’t need permission anymore.
It just needs relays.
—
Posted via Nostr
@DownWithBigBrother
⸻
by @DownWithBigBrother
The UK’s Online Safety Act is now in full swing — a sprawling piece of legislation marketed as protecting users from “harmful” content, but in reality serving as a blunt instrument for state-sanctioned speech control. Already, it’s reaching beyond UK borders. U.S.-based platform Gab was recently told to comply with UK law or face fines of up to £18 million. Their crime? Hosting speech the UK doesn’t like.
But here’s the thing the government hasn’t figured out yet:
What happens when they try this with Nostr?
The answer is simple.
They can’t.
Nostr isn’t a company. It has no CEO, no office, no government registry. It’s a protocol, not a platform — a set of open standards for communication, not a product with a support desk and legal department. And that makes it fundamentally ungovernable by the authoritarian creep of legacy institutions.
The UK can’t shut down Nostr any more than it can shut down math.
There’s no “off switch.” No central server to seize.
What it can do is panic — and it’s starting to.
Expect them to try the usual playbook:
• Pressure Apple and Google to remove Nostr apps like Damus or Primal from UK app stores
• Block relay domains at the ISP level
• Threaten UK-based developers or relay operators
• Criminalize use of “non-compliant” software in extreme cases
But none of it will work. Nostr is too decentralized, too adaptive, and too alive. Block one relay? Ten more spring up. Remove an app? Fork it and re-release. Criminalize access? People route around it with Tor and VPNs. You can’t erase a protocol without erasing the internet.
And let’s be very clear — this is not just about technology.
It’s about sovereignty.
Personal, digital, and national.
Nostr doesn’t just protect free speech.
It restores it — in a world that’s rapidly forgetting what it means.
It breaks the illusion that governments can regulate truth by committee.
So when the UK tries to apply the Online Safety Act to Nostr, it will expose not Nostr’s weakness, but the state’s desperation. Every failed attempt will awaken more people. Every blocked relay will remind us what we’re fighting for. And every note — like this one — will continue to be published, seen, and shared.
Because the protocol is the protest.
And the relay is the resistance.
Free speech doesn’t need permission anymore.
It just needs relays.
—
Posted via Nostr
@DownWithBigBrother
⸻
quoting nevent1q…ttgfNew UK Internet Policing Law Targets US Online Forums
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/new-uk-internet-policing-law-targets-us-online-forums
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