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I quite like the idea. The peer pressure to use social media as a kid is real. I'm glad that whenever I have kids, they won't have to face that (I would have banned it for them anyway)
As with most things to do with government the idea isn't necessarily the problem, it's the fact that their mandating something that isn't really realistic, simply because they don't understand how technology works.
The issue is if they are banning people under a certain age from using social media then how do the companies know whether you can access the content or not? So now they ask everyone for ID. And you just know that the contract for verification has gone to the lowest bidder, who will put zero effort into security and they'll absolutely most certainly will be a data breach.
That's also assuming a data breach is required for it to be bad. What's to stop them from using this to tie a person to activity? Then it makes it really hard to view things your country/employer/etc might not want you to see, for fear that there will be consequences for it.
If it was just a magical switch, to ban people under a certain age from social media, I'd be for that probably. It isn't though. At best, there are consequences that effect everyone. At worst, this is a backdoor to push through internet tracking legislation.
Most people don't like how they are doing it - Papers please.
If it was just changing the current 13+ rule to 16+, then I would be all for it.
Probably even just less extreme measures by banning accounts that are obviously kids
Yeah that would pretty much be enough. Allow reporting of underage accounts and ban enough would probably make it boring enough for most to not bother. Yes some will get past, but if the majority are not that kills half the reason to even use the platform in the first place.
Reporting underage accounts is already a thing. I agree, it would just be best to kill it. Personally, I think internet restrictions should be handled by the ISPs and by parents, with default parental controls switched on, disclaimers, and even possible legal threats about allowing your children to access restricted platforms. Possibly have schools enforce the social media ban as well. (Ie, they can punish you for simply owning a social media account)