Matt Wood

Copy + Brand

10+ years of messaging that speaks to people, from underground zines to top tech firms.

-- New website coming soon! --

Also, local football.

[Mullvad.net @mullvadnet]

Is the UK on the verge of banning VPNs?

On May 26, the consultation intended to help the British government make decisions on age verification for websites, digital services, and social media platforms came to an end. Some form of restrictions regarding at least age limits for social media already appear inevitable; government officials have confirmed as much. The only question is what kind of restrictions will be imposed.

For example, the age verification restrictions could end up including VPN services. National restrictions for websites and social media can be bypassed using tools such as VPNs, virtual phone numbers, eSIM cards, Tor and dedicated services. It is therefore unsurprising that politicians have begun looking toward VPN services, which are the most common and accessible method of changing one’s geographic location.

In early 2026, the House of Lords sent an amendment(regarding the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill) to the House of Commons, proposing an 18-year age limit for using VPN services. The House of Commons rejected the House of Lords amendment four separate times. However, the House of Commons instead introduced its own proposal, which was passed and has now become law. This agreement grants the government the power to introduce restrictions through secondary legislation, with only limited parliamentary scrutiny.

Unfortunately, the risk that the UK government will crack down on VPN services is real – effectively joining countries such as China and Russia in opposing VPN services. Officials have already hinted that they may consider introducing age restrictions for VPN usage under the slogan “No platform gets a free pass”.

If VPN services were to implement identity verification, this would mean collecting data that could be abused through either malice or incompetence. It would, for example, make such services risky for whistleblowers and activists, make it harder for journalists to work with sensitive information, and create a chilling effect on online debate (VPNs can help people post anonymously on social media). In a society like the UK, where 30 people are arrested every day for writing something online that authorities classify as “grossly offensive”, VPN services are an important tool for free speech.

If VPN providers were to impose an age limit on their service, this would also mean that underage users would effectively lose their right to online privacy. Ironically, one consequence would be that social media companies mapping people’s lives through third-party trackers on websites could continue monitoring young people’s online behavior via their IP addresses without any interference. In other words, politicians would remove one of the protections children have against the very companies they claim to want to protect children from.

[Dr Rahmeh Aladwan @doctor_rahmeh]

To make sure British citizens realise what's going on, Palantir can now:

• Build and run the National Firearms Registry, tracking the addresses and medical files of 500,000 gun and explosives holders across all 43 police forces.

• Map your digital footprint by trialling police systems (like Project Nectar) that pull your texts, call logs, emails, and social media data into a single profile.

• Track your physical movements by linking live number plate trackers, CCTV locations, and mobile phone tower pings.

• Process unverified intelligence by feeding anonymous tips and police notes about who you meet into automated linking models.

• Profile police officers using data-matching tools that actively scrape the device logs, vehicle uses, and system logins of a force's own employees.

• Access direct NHS data through a £330 million contract, using admin privileges that let engineers view patient environments before the files are scrambled (pseudonymised).

This is the same Palantir used to coordinate the largest simultaneous terrorist attack in history by the IOF in Lebanon.

This is the same Palantir used by the IOF since 2014 and actively being used in Gaza.

[Philip Proudfoot @PhilipProudfoot]

They will never be able to re-write their history — @archivegenocide has stored and secured over 100,000 statements of politicians, like @EmilyThornberry, where they defended and excused flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.

[Flying_Rodent @flying_rodent]

It’s unfortunate these guys keep having their phones stolen, apparently out of sight of CCTV in one of the most heavily surveilled cities on the planet

[Florian Ederer @florianederer]

I believe we now have evidence of FIFA's World Cup ticketing shell game: FIFA is colluding with third-party resale platforms for its own supply management.

Look at this SeatGeek map (secondary market!) for Saudi Arabia vs Cape Verde. The circled areas are not random single resale tickets, but large, contiguous blocks of seats: entire rows and swaths in sections 101/102, 112/113, 119/120, 134–137, 139, ...

The blue circles appeared weeks ago, then the purple blocks suddenly showed up a day or two ago, and the red blocks seem to have appeared recently too.

That's not what ordinary fan or even commercial scalper resale looks like who resell pairs, fours, and scattered seats. Instead, this looks like inventory being dumped in bulk onto secondary markets, at prices below FIFA's official site.

Why doesn't FIFA just lower prices on its own site Probably because official price cuts could trigger refund demands, chargebacks, or consumer-protection headaches from fans who already bought at much higher prices.

Instead FIFA keeps official prices high, avoids openly admitting the market-clearing price is lower, and moves unsold inventory through third-party resale platforms instead.

[Scottish Sport for Palestine @ScotSport4Pal]

1/This video was taken in Nov. 2023, when Robbie Keane was manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv. Its first team is being shown a video of soldiers (staff) firing rockets during a genocide against Palestinians as a motivational exercise. They applaud it.

[Sangita Myska @SangitaMyska]

It’s begun: The Great Rewriting of History by the politicians, journalists, media commentators who stayed quiet over Gaza to keep climbing the greasy pole - while a handful of us who spoke-up were smeared, abused, or fired.

As @Hamza_a96 says, don’t let them do it:

[Hamza Yusuf @Hamza_a96]

First Thornberry. Now this one.

They know a reckoning is coming, and they're scrambling to save themselves. But the archives don't forget - and they don't lie.

[Mark Seddon @MarkSeddon1962]

'All 55 miners charged with riot at the Battle of Orgreave were found innocent. The cases completely collapsed in court in 1985 after it was revealed that the South Yorkshire Police had fabricated statements, committed perjury, and presented discredited evidence.' All credit to Michael Mansfield KC & Gareth Pierce. @Miners_Strike @DurhamMiners

[Antifa_Ultras @ultras_antifaa]

Celtic Fans For The Liberation Of Palestine (CFLP) has released a statement opposing the potential appointment of Robbie Keane as Celtic FC's new manager:

“As Celtic fans, we oppose the proposed appointment of Robbie Keane as manager of Celtic Football Club.

Celtic supporters have a long and proud history of solidarity with the Palestinian people. For us, Robbie Keane’s decision to manage Maccabi Tel Aviv during the genocide in Gaza is impossible to ignore. To choose to manage a club in Israel while, less than 40 miles away, the same country was using indiscriminate weapons of mass murder against a defenceless people is unconscionable.

Celtic was founded by a community shaped by the legacy of genocide, displacement and famine. Our club’s roots lie in solidarity with those who suffered injustice and oppression. We cannot forget where we came from, nor turn our backs on those facing genocide today.

At a time when Celtic requires unity and collective purpose, this appointment would be deeply divisive among the support. It would also represent a predictable and uninspiring choice at a moment when greater ambition is needed.

We urge the Celtic board to listen to supporters’ concerns and reconsider this appointment.”

[Matt Wood @WoodWorksBest]

Having a conversation like this as a British broadcaster would get you fired, smeared as antisemitic, sued + stalked by Israeli cutouts relentlessly, destroyed in the media, & likely have the government itself use extrajudicial means to punish you for speaking.

We're insane.

[Tom London @TomLondon6]

Spot on from these pundits talking about the future fixture of Ireland v Israel and why it should not go ahead

Such a truthful conversation is unthinkable on British TV

[Nate Bear @NateB_Panic]

Non-Brits don't appreciate that the UK is fundamentally authoritarian. No written constitution, all judges are political appointees, government censorship blocks public interest stories (D-notices), rule of law is weak. For centuries an Oxbridge clique has run the whole country

[Philip Proudfoot @PhilipProudfoot]

So, I have a friend who works at the BBC.

Yesterday, they told me the Tony Blair Institute basically selected the entire panel for @bbcquestiontime — hence why there was no balance and it was essentially dangerous big tech propaganda. Loads of staff pissed off, but silenced.

[Fergus Navaratnam-Blair @Fergus_NBlair]

The thing about these kinds of Gen AI use cases is that the BBC could have easily made this video before these tools existed - you could do it with actors in makeup, you could do it with traditional VFX.

The fact that you're only doing it now means you only thought it was worth doing once the cost was essentially zero. That is to say, the content's existence has become a tacit acknowledgement of its own worthlessness.

[Archie Woodrow @SamuraiApology]

this is an insane bit of "saying the quiet part out loud"

journalists & the former prime minister openly saying "Britain is not a sovereign state, our democracy is a sham, and we're all lying to you about it... and that's a good thing!"

[Marcus Markou @MarcusMarkou]

I don't care what political party you represent, Tory, Labour, Green, Lib Dem, Reform. I was taught, quite rightly, that the Holocaust was humanity's greatest crime. I did Holocaust Studies as part of my History/ Politics degree at Uni of Bham with the late great Professor Grenville, himself a Jewish refugee who escaped the terror of Nazi Germany as a kid. If you are not calling out the current genocide we are painfully witnessing in Gaza and Lebanon, a live streamed and documented genocide then you are dead to me. Labour, Green, Reform... Dont care. Start with a clear moral position on that before you tell me about how you will tax me and what your policies on education are or the environment etc or what you plan to do with the 20 mile an hour speed limit. I dont give a shit. Start with something we were taught would never happen again because of silent complicity. Tell me how you feel about children being shot in the head for fun or the raping of prisoners or the 100s of 1000s of dead and missing. Tell me about how you filter the unimaginable horror, the insane bombing and murder, day after day, week after week, months and now years. Dont just have an opinion. Show me that you're actually human and everything else (after a live streamed and documented geneocide that slowly destroys my own sense of humanity on a daily basis) will follow that.

[Declassified UK @declassifiedUK]

Israel sought secret advice on the legal implications of UK nationals serving in its army.

Documents highlight concerns that UK nationals in the Israel Defence Forces might become liable to criminal prosecution in Britain.

https://t.co/rJoXPtIest

[Ollie Vargas @Ollie_Vargas_]

Patriotic factions within Bolivia's military have confirmed:

- US Embassy has ordered Bolivian govt to declare martial law to break the strikes

- Embassy has told President Paz: "We can't lose Bolivia"

- Bolivia's cabinet is divided, some don't want to implement the US orders

[Matt Wood @WoodWorksBest]

And yet it's suddenly programmed to be screened in a few days time at one of the bigger 'independent' film festivals.

I'd say it makes you wonder who's actually funding + pushing it, but you don't even need to really. 🙄

A self-owning, absurd, & rank low for #TribecaFestival

[Matt Wood @WoodWorksBest]

Just a quick context rundown on this "film":
* Company registered <6wks ago by 2 shady Web3 bros no one has heard of
* Has 'produced' 75min entirely AI propaganda "film" in just weeks
* Keeps its funding secret
* Says it's a "docudrama" based on reporting that they won't share
🤔

[Variety @Variety]

The 2026 #TribecaFestival has set the world premiere of the fully AI-generated film “Dreams of Violets” for June 10: 

• This marks the first feature-length, live-action film generated by AI to be accepted by a marquee film festival

• The 75-minute docudrama, inspired by the protests that swept Tehran in January, highlights five Iranians who meet in a Tehran alley before they’re executed, all witnessed from a window by Amir, a 10-year-old boy with cerebral palsy

https://t.co/cmLKoykNIs