“Designated websites in the EU are already required to follow age verification obligations as part of the EU Digital Services Act to ensure that minors are kept safe from harmful content on social media. The EU is also working towards an EU age verification app and a digital identity wallet”
Is this really about the kids or is it a plausible cover story for government censorship and control.
I feel like implementation would be better at the user end. Have devices confirm the age of the user and have websites opt-in to being suitable for U-16 content.
The way it’s rolled out in somewhere like the Uk, it’s on websites to promote police the age verification, which isn’t feasible for smaller sites and can be ignored by sites as it’s effectively opt-in with threat of future litigation as the drive to join.
It seems as though it allows for endless access to content to someone who skirts the bigger websites, something children are adept at.
This has worked brilliantly in the UK since they brought it in… oh wait it hasn’t at all. How about parents actually do their jobs instead of bringing in stupid laws like this
Can there be an upper limit as well? Cuz I swear every boomer and half the GenXers I know are absolutely unable to safely navigate social media. From conspiracy theories to AI they’re completely taken in by everything and it’s exhausting.
The amount of young people who take their own lives due to online harassment is awful. And it’s not a new thing either. This is really needed. And needs to be enforceable.
i kniow this will get a bit of hate , but this is a good thing
This is a good thing.
And to those saying its pointless because how will it be enforced. I say, you have to start somewhere. We can’t keep going on as if the issue will just fix itself. A law like this forces governments in the EU to start looking seriously into how this can be enforced and implemented which is just not happening seriously ATM
Never underestimate the power of the algorithm. I was on Instagram earlier. I watched a cat video, amusing as they are. A classic black and white handsome cat. I went back into the general search page. I could have been a 12 year old for Pete’s sake!
Agree with the sentiment but its also pretty obvious a push for requirement of ID to be on these platforms under a “we’re the good guys” guise. More and more they want to be able to tie online activity to real people. While this has obvious benefits its also extremely infringing personal information and making it so such platforms cant be used without having ID also provided is a slippery slope against that
I feel like the current age rules could create a real privacy problem if people have to give passports or IDs to companies like Meta or TikTok. In my opinion, it might work better if the government issued an encrypted token that just proves your age without revealing any personal info. I think this could be limited to major social media platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and Twitch, and only sites that are officially registered as social media companies under the law would have to comply. They could add new platforms in the future as needed. The token would only show whether someone is above the required age and wouldn’t track what they do or where they use it.
In my view, this would let kids be kept off these platforms while keeping our sensitive information away from companies that could misuse it or be hacked. I just feel like this might be a way to protect young people without giving social media companies a giant database of passport scans and other personal details.
Yeah no issue with it. They will find ways to do it anyway, but say someone is acting like a bully online and they are underage.. this might be an extra way to force parents to take care of their delinquent kid.
You can tell quite a few users here have drank the kool-aid.
How will this be enforced without an invasive and dangerous system of verification which will destroy online privacy? And what’s more, whatever system is implemented won’t work. The British have tried to implement a system of ID verification, and it’s been a failure.
When I was a kid, we all found ways to access material we shouldn’t have been accessing. It wasn’t ever very hard. The reality is there are solutions to these problems, such as teaching digital literacy and healthy online practices, and parents actually fucking parenting. But those solutions are difficult, and don’t hand governments massive amounts of power.
Teenagers would just find a way around this so fast that it would be a total waste of resources I think. Probably better further investing into education
Some of the dimmest most immature people I know on social media are over 35.
Let me guess, give my id to use the Internet, and it will totally be secure and not breached later, and if it is I’ll totally have recourse… Right?
Oh btw you criticized Israel online and now you can’t go to Germany.
Another terrible idea using “protect the children” to trick people into buying into it.
Parents need to take some responsibility for their children’s online access and usage.
In sentiment it’s positive, it’s clearly dangerous for brain development when you’re that easily influenced, but simultaneously I see two glaring issues, one logistics wise and one social wise.
How do we verify? Do we call up the social office and tell them to activate my online accounts because I’m old enough? Am I emailing my passport information to Reddit and everything else I’m on? Is online gaming now social media? Certain games can’t exist without online features, and exist solely as multiplayer experiences. If a game has a simple chat feature, do we now verify there? There are so many angles to take that the line in the sand is going to be washed away by the hour.
The other is more sentimental and personal to me, but the minority groups. You could make a case for kids who immigrate here, or live here but don’t feel they fit in. For me it’s those who are isolated because of their queer nature. The only reason I made it to 17 is because I found some openly gay friends from the US in a Facebook group about Modern Warfare 2. Cod in those days was extremely homophobic and it was hard to find people to play with. So I found that group, we still talk to this day and I’ve even seen a few come visit. But I don’t think I would have ever had the nerve to come out to my family, or come out while I was still in school, if I didn’t have a normalising sense of being gay in that little vacuum that started on a Facebook page of all things way back when, I have no fucking clue who I would be or if I would be here.
It is the same case I bring up to praise the anonymity of online culture. Because while it’s terrible that User649292747281 can shout slurs online, it also gives marginalised groups a real chance at working out who they are, or the issues they face, with others like them, without having a true and immediate real world ramification.
This will likely pass nonetheless because the West is heading towards open and proud censorship and pawning our data to tech giants, but sure I may as well shout this into the void while I can.
I agree with this in theory. The implantation is gonna be problematic.
I’d be okay with 16 being a maximum age too.
And I guess we will just need an internet ID to enforce that….to protect the children from porno islamist russian disinformationists…
Wonder how children will find a way past this, it’ll take all of 5 seconds
No smartphones before the age of 16 would be better
They could implement this at the device level. Unlock your device by verifying your age so now you can download certain apps. No extra information is given about what you’re doing. Otherwise it is a possible major invasion of privacy.
Does anyone just think about why this is coming up now? Kids have always been at risk on the Internet but now everywhere around the world is talking about this ? Seemingly out of nowhere.
I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but these things rarely come from grass roots movements. (And honestly i havent even seen one). In my opinion its obvious that they want a crack down on censorship and less privacy on the Internet and its been driven from the leaders in big tech.
There should also be a gullibility test as well. 16 is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough.
It should be either 18 or banned. Though, probably this is done to introduce Chat Control and not to protect anyone.
Plenty of other stuff to ban for 16yo, like phones.
Social media companies are absolutely salivating over this as even more spying and control for them.
It’s time for us to get off Instagram, TikTok and X. Let’s enjoy the years we have left on this earth.
I hope they bring it in only because ill never have to go on this stupid fuckin website ever again
Im sure there is some ultior motive for this, the think of the kids angle always makes me sus
Retirement age should be the minimum age for social media. This post is fully serious and no I’m not retired.
32 comments
“Designated websites in the EU are already required to follow age verification obligations as part of the EU Digital Services Act to ensure that minors are kept safe from harmful content on social media. The EU is also working towards an EU age verification app and a digital identity wallet”
Is this really about the kids or is it a plausible cover story for government censorship and control.
I feel like implementation would be better at the user end. Have devices confirm the age of the user and have websites opt-in to being suitable for U-16 content.
The way it’s rolled out in somewhere like the Uk, it’s on websites to promote police the age verification, which isn’t feasible for smaller sites and can be ignored by sites as it’s effectively opt-in with threat of future litigation as the drive to join.
It seems as though it allows for endless access to content to someone who skirts the bigger websites, something children are adept at.
This has worked brilliantly in the UK since they brought it in… oh wait it hasn’t at all. How about parents actually do their jobs instead of bringing in stupid laws like this
Can there be an upper limit as well? Cuz I swear every boomer and half the GenXers I know are absolutely unable to safely navigate social media. From conspiracy theories to AI they’re completely taken in by everything and it’s exhausting.
The amount of young people who take their own lives due to online harassment is awful. And it’s not a new thing either. This is really needed. And needs to be enforceable.
i kniow this will get a bit of hate , but this is a good thing
This is a good thing.
And to those saying its pointless because how will it be enforced. I say, you have to start somewhere. We can’t keep going on as if the issue will just fix itself. A law like this forces governments in the EU to start looking seriously into how this can be enforced and implemented which is just not happening seriously ATM
Never underestimate the power of the algorithm. I was on Instagram earlier. I watched a cat video, amusing as they are. A classic black and white handsome cat. I went back into the general search page. I could have been a 12 year old for Pete’s sake!
https://preview.redd.it/718etwa54n4g1.png?width=1079&format=png&auto=webp&s=740f74a23bc8b4cb7c31514ceccf5a43ea561355
Agree with the sentiment but its also pretty obvious a push for requirement of ID to be on these platforms under a “we’re the good guys” guise. More and more they want to be able to tie online activity to real people. While this has obvious benefits its also extremely infringing personal information and making it so such platforms cant be used without having ID also provided is a slippery slope against that
I feel like the current age rules could create a real privacy problem if people have to give passports or IDs to companies like Meta or TikTok. In my opinion, it might work better if the government issued an encrypted token that just proves your age without revealing any personal info. I think this could be limited to major social media platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and Twitch, and only sites that are officially registered as social media companies under the law would have to comply. They could add new platforms in the future as needed. The token would only show whether someone is above the required age and wouldn’t track what they do or where they use it.
In my view, this would let kids be kept off these platforms while keeping our sensitive information away from companies that could misuse it or be hacked. I just feel like this might be a way to protect young people without giving social media companies a giant database of passport scans and other personal details.
Yeah no issue with it. They will find ways to do it anyway, but say someone is acting like a bully online and they are underage.. this might be an extra way to force parents to take care of their delinquent kid.
You can tell quite a few users here have drank the kool-aid.
How will this be enforced without an invasive and dangerous system of verification which will destroy online privacy? And what’s more, whatever system is implemented won’t work. The British have tried to implement a system of ID verification, and it’s been a failure.
When I was a kid, we all found ways to access material we shouldn’t have been accessing. It wasn’t ever very hard. The reality is there are solutions to these problems, such as teaching digital literacy and healthy online practices, and parents actually fucking parenting. But those solutions are difficult, and don’t hand governments massive amounts of power.
Teenagers would just find a way around this so fast that it would be a total waste of resources I think. Probably better further investing into education
Some of the dimmest most immature people I know on social media are over 35.
Let me guess, give my id to use the Internet, and it will totally be secure and not breached later, and if it is I’ll totally have recourse… Right?
Oh btw you criticized Israel online and now you can’t go to Germany.
Another terrible idea using “protect the children” to trick people into buying into it.
Parents need to take some responsibility for their children’s online access and usage.
In sentiment it’s positive, it’s clearly dangerous for brain development when you’re that easily influenced, but simultaneously I see two glaring issues, one logistics wise and one social wise.
How do we verify? Do we call up the social office and tell them to activate my online accounts because I’m old enough? Am I emailing my passport information to Reddit and everything else I’m on? Is online gaming now social media? Certain games can’t exist without online features, and exist solely as multiplayer experiences. If a game has a simple chat feature, do we now verify there? There are so many angles to take that the line in the sand is going to be washed away by the hour.
The other is more sentimental and personal to me, but the minority groups. You could make a case for kids who immigrate here, or live here but don’t feel they fit in. For me it’s those who are isolated because of their queer nature. The only reason I made it to 17 is because I found some openly gay friends from the US in a Facebook group about Modern Warfare 2. Cod in those days was extremely homophobic and it was hard to find people to play with. So I found that group, we still talk to this day and I’ve even seen a few come visit. But I don’t think I would have ever had the nerve to come out to my family, or come out while I was still in school, if I didn’t have a normalising sense of being gay in that little vacuum that started on a Facebook page of all things way back when, I have no fucking clue who I would be or if I would be here.
It is the same case I bring up to praise the anonymity of online culture. Because while it’s terrible that User649292747281 can shout slurs online, it also gives marginalised groups a real chance at working out who they are, or the issues they face, with others like them, without having a true and immediate real world ramification.
This will likely pass nonetheless because the West is heading towards open and proud censorship and pawning our data to tech giants, but sure I may as well shout this into the void while I can.
I agree with this in theory. The implantation is gonna be problematic.
I’d be okay with 16 being a maximum age too.
And I guess we will just need an internet ID to enforce that….to protect the children from porno islamist russian disinformationists…
Wonder how children will find a way past this, it’ll take all of 5 seconds
No smartphones before the age of 16 would be better
They could implement this at the device level. Unlock your device by verifying your age so now you can download certain apps. No extra information is given about what you’re doing. Otherwise it is a possible major invasion of privacy.
Does anyone just think about why this is coming up now? Kids have always been at risk on the Internet but now everywhere around the world is talking about this ? Seemingly out of nowhere.
I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but these things rarely come from grass roots movements. (And honestly i havent even seen one). In my opinion its obvious that they want a crack down on censorship and less privacy on the Internet and its been driven from the leaders in big tech.
There should also be a gullibility test as well. 16 is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough.
It should be either 18 or banned. Though, probably this is done to introduce Chat Control and not to protect anyone.
Plenty of other stuff to ban for 16yo, like phones.
Social media companies are absolutely salivating over this as even more spying and control for them.
It’s time for us to get off Instagram, TikTok and X. Let’s enjoy the years we have left on this earth.
I hope they bring it in only because ill never have to go on this stupid fuckin website ever again
Im sure there is some ultior motive for this, the think of the kids angle always makes me sus
Retirement age should be the minimum age for social media. This post is fully serious and no I’m not retired.
Comments are closed.