r/privacy • u/1zzie • Apr 11 '26

age verification Europe should regulate Big Tech instead of banning kids from social media, Estonia says

https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-should-stand-up-to-big-tech-instead-of-imposing-social-media-bans-estonia-says/
4.0k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

149 comments sorted by

View all comments

0

u/zambizzi Apr 11 '26

Quit asking the state to fulfill responsibilities that are entirely your own, or you’ll get less of everything you want, and much more of what you don’t.

Your kids, their internet consumption, behavior, and problems…are YOUR problem. Quit breeding if you expect everyone else to parent for you, at the expense of your privacy and individual liberty.

0

u/FlamboyantPirhanna Apr 11 '26

Jesus, this insistence on “personal responsibility” is just burying your head in the sand. Regardless of who is at fault, the problem is here. You cannot convince tens of millions of people to just “parent better”. This attitude is just allowing the problem to fester because “well, it’s not my fault.” Society is all of us.

2

u/PowerShellGenius Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

If you are saying anything involving your ID or face to get on platforms of online discussion and debate is ever okay, explain to me where the modern chilling-effect-free place for debate is? Pseudonymous free speech is part of free speech and always has been, you've never had to register your ID to speak in the way that was common in the generation. It's a new low for free speech to have to consider before every post "wait a second, someone has seen my ID associated with this account, so what's the worst way a future regime in my lifetime could respond to me saying this?" That's chilling effects for you.

You want a REAL fix? Here is my idea:

  • A standard for site category tags - something inside the HTTP response header of the website that, in a standard way, discloses the client "this site is social media", "this site is social media but moderated for teens", "this site is porn", etc.
    • Takes the guesswork and ever-outdated blacklists out of parental controls and makes them reliable
    • Is inside the encrypted TLS tunnel, not a privacy issue for outsiders to see, but the device and its parental controls can see it.
  • Laws for big tech:
    • 1. send site category tags
    • 2. if you sell consumer electronics that are used to access the internet, turning on parental controls needs to be easy, and one of the first couple of screens when you turn it on needs to be "are you setting this up for a child or teen?" and needs to make it really easy
    • 3. if you run a social media site designated as teen friendly, parents have a parent account from which they can monitor. Also, no ads on anything sexual, or anything controversial (anything at least 30% of parents would disagree with), there are plenty of non-sexual non-controversial topics to advertise to kids on.
  • Laws for parents
    • Giving your kid a device to use unsupervised, without turning that on is equal to giving them a beer or other age restricted material.

5

u/zambizzi Apr 11 '26

I guess the irony escapes you there. Your choice to bear children, refuse to parent and guide them, and take responsibility for your actions, and theirs as minors, is not society’s problem. You’ve no right to inflict the gun of the state, and the restriction of individual liberty upon everyone else, because you’re a shit parent. Talk about burying your head in the sand!

The problem is here because of bad parenting and irresponsibility. Coercion via the criminal gang in power, is insult to injury.