14 year old Max has the right diagnosis (designed to maximise engagement), politicians have wrong solution (bans which require everyone to be policed on the internet). The problem is the business model so politicians need to regulate *that*.
#SocialMedia #AgeGating #OverPolicing #AttentionEconomy
#Agegating
Another failed attempt at fining a American company. #Ofcom #Agegating
Reddit fined ÂŁ14m by UK data watchdog over age verification checks | BBC News
Thanks to Pirat_nation and Mr_T for sharing this.
A bill sponsored by State Senator Matt Ball and State Representative Amy Paschal (both Democrats) would require operating systems to provide "Age Attestation".
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-051
Firstly, if I understand the bill correctly, the correct term is age-gating:
PROVIDE AN ACCESSIBLE INTERFACE AT ACCOUNT SETUP THAT REQUIRES AN ACCOUNT HOLDER TO INDICATE THE BIRTH DATE OR AGE OF THE USER OF THAT DEVICE FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING AN AGE SIGNAL TO APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE IN A COVERED APPLICATION STORE
Also known as self-declaration, age-gating means requiring users to self-declare their age or birth date before accessing a site.
Or in this case, when setting up an OS-level account.
Age assurance would also be an acceptable term, as it covers all forms of detecting a user's age.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/to-read-this--please-upload-photo-id
As I understand it, it requires all operating systems to ask for their user's age when creating a new account. That age can then be accessed by applications on the device, who are required to use it unless they have evidence the user is a different age. Applications are forbidden from sharing this information with a third party for purposes other than age assurance.
Any OS-level account created before 1 January 2028 is required to verify its user's age before 1 July 2028.
Violations may be punished with up to $2,500 in civil fines, unless the violation was intentional, in which case the fine is up to $7,500.
With news that the #UK is considering #ageGating #VPNs, here's your periodic reminder that you don't need to pay a #VPN service (and potentially have to do an age-check, in future) to have a VPN.
For the last ten years, I've just been spinning up cheap VMs running #WireGuard on cloud providers when I need a VPN, and then throwing them away afterwards, for a cost of usually less than 8 cents (USD) per hour.
đź”— Here's how: https://danq.me/run-your-own-wireguard-vpn
Flooding the zone is once again the preferred tactic of choice for pushing abusive legislation in #Portugal
Not as egregious as 100+ changes to labor laws, but PSD still couldn't resist sneaking in #ChatControl together with #AgeGating whatever online platforms the state wants to surveil.
So, You’ve Hit An Age Gate. What Now?
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/10/so-youve-hit-an-age-gate-what-now/
If you live in Spain, tell Pedro Sanchez what you think about his government's push to age gate the internet. Very disappointing to see this authoritarian push from the Sanchez government
#spain #socialmedia #privacy #pedrosanchez #censorship #eupol #ageverification #agegating
French lawmakers vote to ban #SocialMedia use by under-15s
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/27/france-social-media-ban-under-15s
#France #SocialMediaBan #privacy #AgeVerification #AgeGating #IdentityVerification
Indian states weigh #Australia-style ban on #SocialMedia for children
#India #politics #SocialMediaBan #privacy #AgeGating #AgeVerification #IdentityVerification
Nearly 5 Million Accounts Removed Under #Australia’s New #SocialMediaBan
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/world/australia/social-media-ban-australia.html
#SocialMedia #privacy #AgeVerification #AgeGating #IdentityVerificatio #politics
Not sure how applying film-age ratings to social media would work. I guess it at least appreciate that content shouldn’t just be adult 18 or not and there are degrees of what is appropriate for different ages. #socialmedia #agegating
So, You’ve Hit an Age Gate. What Now?
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/so-youve-hit-age-gate-what-now
#privacy #politics #AgeVerification #AgeAssurance #IdentityVerification #AgeGating
#BigTech won in #Texas — but the #AgeVerification fight is just getting started
#privacy #cybersecurity #politics #IDVerification #IdentityVerification #AgeAssurance #AgeGating
Judge To Texas: You Can’t Age-Gate The Entire Internet Without Evidence
Age Verification, Estimation, Assurance, Oh My! A Guide To The Terminology
Starting Jan 2026, Roblox chat gets a bouncer: mandatory age verification. Voluntary checks are live now. Guess those days of pretending to be an adult to dominate virtual playgrounds are over. Are these measures helpful or just an obstacle course?
https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/18/roblox-will-require-all-users-to-perform-age-checks-to-access-chat-from-january/
#Roblox #Gaming #AgeGating #OnlineCommunity #TechDebate
"#Pornhub said the number of #UK visitors to its website was down 77 per cent compared with July, when more rigorous age checks for sexually explicit sites were introduced under the #OnlineSafetyAct, the BBC reports."
That's about the number of people who know how to use a VPN service 🤫
https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/italy-to-launch-age-verification-system-for-porn-sites.html
#OSA #PlatformRegulation #AgeVerification #AgeGating #DigitalRights
"If you've been following the wave of age-gating laws sweeping across the country and the globe, you've probably noticed that lawmakers, tech companies, and advocates all seem to be using different terms for what sounds like the same thing. Age verification, age assurance, age estimation, age gating—they get thrown around interchangeably, but they technically mean different things. And those differences matter a lot when we're talking about your rights, your privacy, your data, and who gets to access information online.
So let's clear up the confusion. Here's your guide to the terminology that's shaping these laws, and why you should care about the distinctions."
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/age-verification-estimation-assurance-oh-my-guide-terminology
#AgeVerification #AgeGating #AgeAssurance #Privacy #Censorship #DigitalRights
As Social Media Restrictions Spread, Is The Internet Entering Its Victorian Era?
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