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European countries where social media age verification is being proposed (media.piefed.ca)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by maam@feddit.uk to c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk

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Internet Age Gates Are a Growing Global Threat

Online age verification laws by country

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[-] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 6 days ago

It isn’t just against privacy. The rich and powerful are trying to control the narrative, in essence what people know about the world. They want to make it to where only their truth is available to you. It’s very inconvenient to them that a bunch of them got caught diddling kids and they don’t want to get caught again. They’re absolutely not going to stop doing it, but they want to limit who can tell you when they do it and just pay those people off.

[-] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

My comment was tongue-in-cheek.

But I'm not sure I follow you here: this wave of proposals does mean trouble on many levels, but how does limiting the younger part of the world from accessing social media limit what truth is available to me regarding what the rich and powerful are up to?

[-] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 days ago

I thought it went without saying, but, okay.

Why is religion so successful? It's because of early indoctrination. Religion wouldn't be successful without it because adults can see it's a scam. So you sell it to kids who don't know any better and they grow up believing it. Then they're kinda stuck with it.

Likewise, the Trump-Epstein class don't like how we have all kinds of sources that can report on the bad shit they do. You only let kids access the news through controlled sources, they grow up trusting those sources.

They are also attempting to funnel adults through the approved sources as well, they're just doing it in other measures. Why do you think they're jacking up the prices of computers and phones? They don't want you looking there. They want you looking at the TV and listening to the radio, where they control what you see.

It doesn't seem that serious now, but it will in 10-15 years if they have their way. It's a long con.

[-] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

I thought it went without saying, but, okay.

Okay, this sounds like you're low-key trying to tell me I'm slow. :⁠-⁠P

Very interesting theory, though. Definitely sounds dangerous in the long-run.

[-] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago

Didn't mean it as a slight, but I did think the whole setup was kind of obvious.

One of the first things the fascist movement in Germany did 100 years ago was take control of the media. They can't really do that as completely in this day and age, so they've got to try to limit access to alternative sources they can't control as easily. Then they just gotta take the kids raised on state media and convince them that those of us who know better are the crazy ones.

[-] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Didn't mean it as a slight, but I did think the whole setup was kind of obvious.

Fair enough, but since you then run into someone who doesn't think that is obvious (me), how do you think you make them feel when you go "well I thought it was obvious buuuuut okay then I guess 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️"? That's how it comes across to the receiving person that doesn't find it obvious. FYI for future interactions when you run into someone dumber than you (me and people like me, I guess). 👍

Regarding the rest:

In my country, we are shocked by what is said on the news in some other countries. Everything is extremely biased and loaded with opinion and value, and is not reported from a neutral standpoint, with facts and observations.

A country needs independent news, funded by the people (taxes). My country has several news outlets which are state funded with taxes, which are legally required to be unbiased and factual, and non-discriminatory. They are required to issue statements and corrections when this is violated, and have done so in the past. This is good.

They have also started a new push where they scrutinize viral clips of news or other reporting, which may or may not be fake, and either debunk or confirm their veracity, with evidence. Makes me proud. 🙂‍↕️

With this in mind, I feel like other countries might be more afraid of the media being controlled. But it's certainly not impossible even in my country, of course.

I will say that I believe kids don't belong on social media before a certain age. But age verification is not the way to do this. Parents need to step up here, for one thing.

this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2026

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