New U.S laws designed to protect minors are pulling millions of adult Americans into mandatory age-verification gates to access online content, leading to backlash from users and criticism from privacy advocates that a free and open internet is at stake. Roughly half of U.S. states have enacted or are advancing laws requiring platforms — including adult content sites, online gaming services, and social media apps — to block underage users, forcing companies to screen everyone who approaches these digital gates.
No I’m not! I’m in 100% agreement with you that this has nothing to do with protecting children! Age verification, if done properly, is a good idea, that I’m completely for. But you’re right, this isn’t that. This is a smokescreen.
I just want to be sure that people understand that they ARE using a good idea as their cover here. It CAN be compatible with privacy and anonymity, and it is a good idea to stop young children engaging with the cess pit that is modern social media.
At some point, I sincerely hope that the current regime will end and be replaced by something more sane. At that point, I don’t want people to immediately think “age verification = bad”