CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@harpy yes. Maybe I'm just old and see the value in having an anonymous presence online, but given the rate of identity capture this seems like a nail in the coffin. There will always be workarounds, that is the nature of technology. But for some, it will drive them and their ideas from the internet.

The more I ponder it the more I feel like banning social media for minors is simply capitulation to large tech. Instead of regulating those companies and their products, we are discriminating against a vulnerable minority.

Social media is allegedly worse for your health than smoking. But dissuading use through banning youth access now is both hypocrisy and might simply lead to a less digitally capable and media savvy generation.

It's also a feeble action in itself and will be difficult to enforce (with means of verification) or monitor (by requiring governments). Companies will resist reporting and there are workarounds and alternatives young people will leverage.

Further, enforcing age restrictions and verifiable digital identity seems more like a smokescreen for introducing privacy compromising identity systems that at this point seem most likely to favour the further entrenchment of large technology companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft.

#regulation #socialmedia #discrimination #ageverification