This report lays out clear evidence of how Meta enables bad actors to use its targeted advertising system to manipulate elections, spread disinformation, fuel division, and facilitate fraud.| Open Rights Group
Dear Ofcom, Meta, Alphabet, X and ByteDance, Implementation of Palestine Action proscription on social media We are writing with serious concerns about how Ofcom and social media platforms will interpret the Government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. As human rights organisations and concerned individuals committed to […]| Open Rights Group
Human rights organisations, academics and experts have written to Ofcom and the tech companies, Meta, Alphabet, X and ByteDance, asking for clarification over how they will protect the right to freedom of expression online in light of the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. The letter’s signatories raise concerns that legal duties under […]| Open Rights Group
From Friday 25 July 2025, UK Internet users have had to verify their age to use a range of apps and websites – from social media platforms such as X, Reddit and Bluesky to dating apps like Grindr to porn sites such as Pornhub. And it’s turning out to be as bad as we thought […]| Open Rights Group
This press release, including the headline, has been updated as of July 31, 2025 as Google have responded to the Washington Post story.| Open Rights Group
As Online Safety Act age verification or assurance duties kick in, on 25 July 2025, we recap what the act failed to do: regulate and protect privacy of children and adults engaging with these tools.| Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group has warned of serious privacy and security risks for people in the UK as online platforms start to ask users to verify their age, as required by the Online Safety Act.| Open Rights Group
The e-Visa will be used to demonstrate someone’s ability to enter the UK, to prove their right to work and to access banking, mortgages and secure housing rental agreements.| Open Rights Group
The Problem From 1 January 2025, people who have right to remain in the UK must have an e-Visas to apply for work, apply to use housing and other services, and to re-enter the UK.| Open Rights Group
CIVIL SOCIETY COMMITTEE STAGE BRIEFING ON THE ONLINE SAFETY BILL FOR HOUSE OF LORDS: ILLEGAL CONTENT SAFETY DUTIES AND PRIOR RESTRAINT – Supported by Wikimedia UK, Index on Censorship, and Open Rights Group.| Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group has received legal advice from Dan Squires KC and Emma Foubister of Matrix Chambers, which states that measures in the Online Safety Bill may involve breaches of international law.| Open Rights Group
Under new rules created by the Online Safety Bill, all illegal content must be removed from social media platforms.| Open Rights Group
Last month, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove MP, announced a new and expanded definition of extremism as part of the Government’s Counter Terrorism Strategy.| Open Rights Group
There are calls for the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Michelle Donelan to resign after she falsely accused two academics of promoting extremism.| Open Rights Group
ORG responds to Ofcom’s Online Safety Act plans Last week, Open Rights Group responded to Ofcom’s Illegal Harms consultation, the first of a series of consultations Ofcom will be holding on the development of its guidance for the Online Safety Act.| Open Rights Group
A policy brief on the inclusion of private communications in scope of the Online Safety Bill and the impact on end-to-end encryption Chat monitoring of private messaging services has sneaked into the Online Safety Bill with very little public debate or Parliamentary Scrutiny.| Open Rights Group
Safeguard private communication Over 80 civil society organisations, academics and cyber experts from 23 countries have written to the UK government to raise the alarm about proposed powers in the Online Safety Bill.| Open Rights Group
MPs are expected to vote for the Investigatory Powers Amendment Bill (IPAB) when it returns to parliament today.| Open Rights Group
The proscription of Palestine Action will come into effect on Saturday unless the High Court issues a temporary block on the order today.| Open Rights Group
A new report by digital rights campaigners Open Rights Group (ORG) has highlighted that Meta requires more transparency about adverts that highlight the harms of gambling than about adverts that promote gambling. Profiling by Proxy: How Meta’s Data Driven Ads Fuel Discrimination examines the harms caused by Meta’s intrusive profiling of its users. Transparency in […]| Open Rights Group
Data profiling, or behavioural profiling, is one of the most powerful tools in digital advertising, and generates billions of dollars of revenue for the sites that host ads.| Open Rights Group
Digital rights campaigners Open Rights Group has condemned the last minute addition of extreme powers to the Crime and Policing Bill. The new additions would give the police the powers to extract data through a seized device to any online accounts that have been accessed by that device. This could be done without any judicial […]| Open Rights Group
Digital rights campaigners, the Open Rights Group have warned that the Data Use and Access Bill contains dangerous provisions that will not only make it harder for people to have control over their personal data and lives, but also threaten adequacy status with the EU.| Open Rights Group
European civil society organisations have written to European Commissioner, Michael McGrath over concerns about the erosion of privacy and data protection in the UK.| Open Rights Group
No excuses for not changing Meta business model A new report by digital campaigners, Open Rights Group urges Meta to amend its business model to comply with data protection law.| Open Rights Group
Since its first advertising product launched in 2004, Meta has relied on revenue from advertising to support its business.| Open Rights Group
This document is intended as a full overview of the Online Safety Act (OSA, or the Act) and how it works for organisations attempting to understand it and its implications.| Open Rights Group
On May 12, the Data (Use and Access) Bill, also known as the UK data protection reform, came back to the House of Lords for what was supposed to be its final stage.| Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group is the UK’s largest grassroots digital rights campaigning organisation, working to protect everyone’s rights to privacy and free speech online.| Open Rights Group
The Data Use and Access Bill will fail to protect the public from harmful uses of artificial intelligence, say digital rights campaigners, Open Rights Group.| Open Rights Group
The Online Safety Act Policy Hub is a place to find out more about the issues affecting end-to-end encryption and freedom of expression online.| Open Rights Group
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Refugee Week, and the theme is compassion, celebrating the resilience of refugees and asylum seekers.| Open Rights Group
The Migrant Digital Justice programme empowers the migrants’ rights sector to challenge technologies used in immigration.| Open Rights Group
Executive Summary The new Data (Use and Access) Bill drops several concerning aspects of the previous Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.| Open Rights Group
ORG statements of support for amendments to the DUA Bill tabled in the House of Commons at Report Stage ICO Complaints procedure for vulnerable individuals – statement of support for Siân Berry MP’s amendment NC15 The right to an effective remedy constitutes a core element of data protection: most individuals will not pursue cases before a court because of the lengthy, time-consuming and costly nature of judicial procedures.| Open Rights Group
This Thursday (1 May 2025), voters will go to the polls in 1,641 council seats across 24 local authorities.| Open Rights Group
The Home Office’s flawed eVisa scheme means that many migrants can’t prove their right to be in the UK.| Open Rights Group
What’s legal to say should be legal to type.| Open Rights Group
Blog| Open Rights Group
Message scanning breaks end-to-end encryption, which puts everyone’s privacy and security at risk.| Open Rights Group
The deployment of client-side scanning on private messaging systems was trailed in a research paper published by the technical directors of GCHQ and the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC).| Open Rights Group
Rights groups call for Apple’s closed appeal against the Home Office’s encryption-breaching order to be opened to the public.| Open Rights Group
Joint letter from Open Rights Group, Big Brother Watch and Index on Censorship.| Open Rights Group
Incredible as it may seem, thanks to the Online Safety Act, dozens of harmless, safe, small websites are closing down by 17 March, rather than face threats of fines that could lose their operators their homes.| Open Rights Group
We deserve to live free from persecution.| Open Rights Group
When individuals migrate, their data migrates with them.| Open Rights Group
ORG and the3million took the Government to court several times before the Government accepted that the Immigration Exemption was unlawful.| Open Rights Group
The Data use and Access (DUA) Bill will have its second reading in the House of Lords today.| Open Rights Group
In response to our formal complaint to the ICO against Meta’s use of personal data to train Artificial Intelligence models without consent, the ICO has invited Open Rights Group (ORG) to a meeting to discuss our concerns.| Open Rights Group
Spying on private messages has long been on the security services’ wish list.| Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group has responded to Apple’s announcement that they will no longer be able to offer Advanced Data Protection tools after UK security row.| Open Rights Group
On 23 January 2025, 18 year old Axel Rudakubana was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in prison for the horrific murder of three young girls and the attempted murder of eight other children, as well as two adults who tried to save them.| Open Rights Group
01 April, 2025| Open Rights Group
ORG seeks to prevent digital technologies from eroding public trust in the democratic process.| Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group has responded to a Washington Post article that claims the UK has demanded that Apple build a backdoor to retrieve content that any Apple user has uploaded to the cloud.| Open Rights Group
Moral Hazard A new report, Moral Hazard: Voter Data Privacy and Politics in Election Canvassing Apps, raises concerns about the privacy and security of canvassing apps used by political parties.| Open Rights Group
In this report we analyse the technical architecture, and associated privacy policies, of the canvassing apps used by the Liberal Democrat, Conservative, and Labour parties during the 2024 general election.| Open Rights Group
“We’re here, because we’re here.| Open Rights Group
ORG answer to the DCMS consultation on the Government Plan for Digital Regulation 0.| Open Rights Group
ORG response to the Government approach to regulating Artificial Intelligence 0 Executive Summary Open Rights Group (ORG) is a UK-based digital campaigning organisation working to protect fundamental rights to privacy and free speech online.| Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group analysis of the UK Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, as it was presented on 18 July 2022 0.| Open Rights Group
Briefing for the Report Stage, November 2023 DATA BILL WILL SET BACK UK ECONOMY AND RIGHTS The Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill will have its report stage in Parliament on November 29 2023.| Open Rights Group
Parliamentary briefing on amendments to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill for the House of Lords Committee Stage, March 2024.| Open Rights Group
Honourable Chair, dear Juan, Thank you for your letter of 13 June 2023, in which you ask the Commission about its assessmentof the UK’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill that is currently before the UK Parliament.| Open Rights Group
In what could be a new, welcomed development, Labour appear to have decided to narrow the scope of the data protection reform by … taking away the data protection parts.| Open Rights Group
Blog| Open Rights Group
In the King’s Speech, Labour committed to binding regulation on “the handful of companies developing the most powerful AI models” to ensure the safe developments of these technologies.| Open Rights Group
The #SafetyNotSurveillance coalition – a group of organisations working at the intersections of human rights, racial justice and technology – have written to the Home Secretary calling for safeguards against the harms of AI systems in policing, including an outright ban on predictive policing and biometric surveillance systems.| Open Rights Group
Meta, the company that runs Facebook and Instagram, has announced plans to repurpose most of the personal data that they ever collected about you, to train their “artificial intelligence (AI) technologies” — without, of course, asking your permission to do so.| Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group has submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about Meta’s plans to take users’ information to “develop and improve AI”.| Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group has submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK about Meta’s plans to take users’ information to “develop and improve AI”.| Open Rights Group
ORG has joined with Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International UK, Index on Censorship and Reporters Without Borders UK to express support for journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, who will attend a hearing of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in London this week in relation to claims they were targeted by the UK authorities using covert surveillance.| Open Rights Group
Whether you are a pensioner or a parent, unemployed or living with a disability, you may be one of the millions of people who receive benefits from the State.| Open Rights Group
The Immigration Exemption to data protection is STILL unlawful as Courts tell Home Office again that they cannot sidestep Parliament when using personal data to profile migrants.| Open Rights Group
Open Rights Group is the UK’s largest grassroots digital rights campaigning organisation, fighting to protect everyone’s rights to privacy and free speech online.| Open Rights Group
Your data can get used against you and attacks on your rights mean you’ll have less ability to do anything about it.| Open Rights Group
