I am in disbelief that the only argument I'm seeing mobilized against age verification laws (and their accompanying social media bans) is “It sucks for privacy!”, and not “why the fuck are we okay imposing a digital jail on every single child?”
Digital privacy matters and it's an important reason why these laws must be repealed at all costs, but let's also please humanize the issue here: social media bans for minors are just another massive chapter in the conservative's playbook to deprive any social class that's not ‘adult white males’ of their bodily and existential autonomy.
That same playbook has chapters we're already familiar with, including staples such as “let's force gay kids back into the closet”, “trans kids shouldn’t be able to decide anything for themselves”, “women shouldn't have a bank account”, and “abortion should be illegal”.
Sylvia
in reply to Niléane • • •I feel conflicted about it because I do see how much harm social media can do and how its design definitely amplifies abusive behaviour by creating a system which rewards bullying with the serotonin of likes and boosts.
But the fact they're choosing to age limit it instead of force redesigns as if bullying is something only kids experience (it isn't, we just call it harassment instead when it happens to adults) and ignore how this will kill support networks for queer kids is telling...
Sylvia
in reply to Sylvia • • •Baron Vonskinnback
in reply to Sylvia • • •Sylvia
in reply to Baron Vonskinnback • • •@Vonskinnback Yes, but it is also support networks for a lot of people.
I definitely think we need to change a lot with social media, especially the mainstream ones (but Mastodon is not free of flaws either). And companies definitely won't make those changes themselves, because the abuse gives extra income as upset people disengage less quickly.
I'm not saying I know the answer to fixing it all, but age verification seems like a sledgehammer approach that will do more harm than good.
Baron Vonskinnback
in reply to Sylvia • • •