I'm sure they can find a community elsewhere. Discord comes to mind... "Oh but it's illegal", trust me on this: Discord only cares if somebody actually reports the server and the violations are severe enough.
But why should they _have_ to find a community elsewhere?
It is right that a country should snuff out all communities, large and small, and drive them to hosting in another country, or "under the wing" of a behemoth with a fully-funded legal department?
It's never the stated purpose of the law, but we might do well to be concerned with what it actually does rather than what the proponents claim it would do.
Recourse doesn't matter for a sole proprietorship. If they have to engage with a lawyer whatsoever, the site is dead or blocked because they don't have the resources for that.
I’d encourage you to read the actual text of the law and not just others’ interpretation. The sole proprietorship likely falls into one of the exception clauses or is likely using a platform.
I feel like you're not understanding; people aren't going to read the law, because the law is non-trivial and they don't feel comfortable doing that themselves instead of hiring a lawyer. But they can't afford to hire a lawyer, so instead they're going to block.
What recourse? A small, 5o-member community doesn't have the resources to ensure they're in compliance, and Ofcom's statement about how smaller players are "unlikely" to be affected is not particularly reassuring.
The "stated purpose" is irrelevant. Even if they are being honest about their stated purpose (questionable), the only thing that matters is how it ends up playing out in reality.
Read the actual text of the law. It creates opportunities to appeal and other options. Another option is for these communities to band together, which seems to be happening.
