109

EXCLUSIVE: EU could announce social media ban for kids in September

Von der Leyen is expected to use her annual State of the Union speech to unveil plans for EU-wide age restrictions on social media

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] birdwing 52 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Literally 1984. Those who will refuse to sell their private info to big capitalist will be limited, thus they will be information restricted.

[-] lemmylemonade@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Can we not stay up to date with what is happening without owning a social media account? I think the only thing we are missing is social media trends that change frequently.

[-] thanksforreading@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Not even close. This will fragment the internet and take power away from surveillance capitalists. A huge amount of people will simply disengage from the Epstein class brainwashing. I'm looking forward to it. The internet used to be way more interesting and fun when it was fragmented.

[-] Malyca@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] prole 1 points 1 month ago

Maybe more akin to Brave New World, and the "savages" who don't live in the fucked up society they created.

Just minus the soma holidays

[-] GMac@feddit.org 32 points 1 month ago

Should be banning endless manipulative opaque algorithmic presentations for everyone.

[-] Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Require age verification only if you want to get algorithmic recommendations. That way you can still engage in the social internet anonymously as an adult.

The recommendation algorithms give American big tech way too much political sway in Europe and ideally they should be banned entirely, but age verification at least gives the appearance that this is "for the children" and not something with (justifiable) political motivations.

[-] GMac@feddit.org 13 points 1 month ago

But its not age verification thats actually being implemented. It's identity verification mislabelled to take advantage of dumb legislation with yet more privacy over reach.

[-] smiletolerantly@awful.systems 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah. Honestly. For platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, mandate chronological feeds of only people you have followed, paginated at like 30.

[-] GMac@feddit.org 2 points 1 month ago

And mandate they integrate with interoperability standards like activitypub etc so if they start manipulating feeds then we can just exit stage left without losing contact with people we like.

[-] smiletolerantly@awful.systems 2 points 1 month ago

But... That would force them to provide a great user experience in order to retain users!! That's an unacceptable burden on the largest companies in the world!!

[-] eleitl@lemmy.zip 26 points 1 month ago

It's not an age restriction. It's a mandatory ID for everybody. They know we hate them, and are afraid. Perhaps they should make a law against killer drones instead.

[-] CatsGoMOW@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago

Now to ban it for all the other age groups, too. /s but only kinda

[-] FineCoatMummy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago

Kinda with you in spirit. How I think about it is... it is harmful for both adults and children. Esp in big-tech co form. FB, IG, TT, X, and w/e. There's a lot of research about it. But the cure can be worse than the disease. What the EU wants to do is not the right answer to address the immense harms of social media to our world.

Both the US and Canada have similar bills on boil. Both are also terrible ideas.

[-] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

While this is obviously bad, I don't think there's ever really a total win or loss when it comes to this stuff. It's a constant fight. They'll bring shit like this in and it'll seem hopeless, then someone will bypass it and it'll go back and forth. Same as ad blocking or DRM or countless other things.

It'd be nice to not have to deal with it in the first place, but we'll deal with it sooner or later I'm sure.

[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

It's just more enshttification that wastes everyone's time.

[-] Ankkuli@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 month ago

I hate EU. Nothing but bad news from them.

[-] trilobite@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago

I don't know where u live but EU brings good things too. Go and ask the Brits who are mourning the departure they voted for 10 years ago. Of course there are a lot of things that could be improved but that is the responsibility of us citizens.

[-] SocialistVibes01@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

African folks love the kindness of Europeans.

[-] BenLeMan@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

African folks love the kindness of Europeans.

... is a statement which, even if correct, contributes absolutely nothing to the current debate. Feel free to open your own thread about it.

[-] SocialistVibes01@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

Are you trying to instruct me as an European? The posts above were about good and bad things in the EU and people who wanted to be accepted into it. Don't close your eyes when convenient.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] thanksforreading@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

There is a difference between psyops that make you think EU only does bad things and reality. EU has been the most successful peace project in history. It has lifted millions of people out of poverty too. There will always be political tensions and work to be done. We can never rest on our laurels but if you honestly believe what you wrote, then congrats you've been brainwashed by the Epstein class.

[-] prole 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

As an American, I envy their news

[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago

It should be dependent on the sites offering adult material to have an account with a login. All other non-adult sites keep operating as before and kids can peruse freely. If a kid steals a password that's a kid thing, not a system thing. Nothing is foolproof and people get slapped in the face with shit they don't want to see all the time. Education and proper implementation is the key, not restriction and censorship.

[-] mineralman@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

Adoption is perhaps the impetus needed for common sense to prevail. If everyone keeps spending all their money at a partcular casino, they aren't going to change a thing. But if everyone stopped coming, you can be damn sure they start looking at what they can reform. Nothing improves if people don't start to care about the security of their PII. That's a huge rock.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 month ago

For one, they want all our data, they want to know all we do online.

For other, they found out children who grew exposed to people's opinions online grows more critical that kids that grew on they caged propaganda. Not good for their business to have citizens that can actually think.

[-] acron@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

So your take is that social media is actually good for kids? Any citation for this?

[-] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Without access to that the children view of the world gets limited by what their parent's and their government said. It's just basic logic .

Anyway if you want to talk in papers,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK594763/

This says that social media have both GOOD and BAD effects on kids and teenagers. Both.

[-] hneerqe@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

For sure. Reddit doesn't start "testing" it just for sport.

Where have I seen such worldwide concerted action among all governments and corporations. Ah yes, when China "leaked" a virus.

Did they save lives?

or

Did they put us in house arrest?

[-] dropdrip@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago

And they put people in house arrest, because... ? I just saw tanks being transported on public-roads today. So the reason couldn't be to covertly move weapons: that goes on in public, in broad daylight and that transit sits alongside vans delivering ice-creams to convenience stores. So, the big cabal wanted to put people under house arrest... to do what?

Pick up a book. Pandemics aren't new and neither is the orchestrated response to them by governing bodies. History can be a good reference.

[-] hneerqe@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

So they used medieval techniques got it.

Well they didn't, but concerning your teensy little pee brain of yours, could as well have.

I know they did the same in 1919, that's barely 20th century. And an entire century of medical progress early.

[-] prole 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Maybe you can clarify what your point here actually is?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] smiletolerantly@awful.systems 7 points 1 month ago

They saved lifes.

Glad to have cleared that up for you 👍

[-] ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip 6 points 1 month ago

Oh boy, you're one of THOSE dumbs.

[-] prole 2 points 1 month ago

The fuck? What are you even trying to say here? Are you upset about the existence of a pandemic response?

[-] hneerqe@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

They turned authoritarian without batting an eye. Worldwide. That's what they really showed themselves to be. Cancelled freedom and privacy, destroyed local business and handicapped the developing children of that time. And will continue to do these things.

And yes it was unnecessary. I know you want to read into this and say I was against "a pandemic response", but not "that" pandemic response..

[-] gleaminggoat@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

Strange title. Big tech lost huge on this. They want to advertise to your kids. These bans make sense to protect the vulnerable.

[-] prole 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Holy shit, is this what people actually believe?

That's honestly wild.

[-] Dymonika@beehaw.org 3 points 1 month ago

I've been trying to capitalize on the commotion about all this in /r/privacy to bring more people to Lemmy. I've converted at least one redditor already!

[-] utopiah@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

What a disgusting rage bait title.

Please no matter the news do not invite others to give up. You might be totally depleted. You might have fought teeth and nails against problems but if you want to give up let others try.

This is deeply problematic and of course precisely helps those you do agree with.

Do not fall prey to learned helplessness.

If politicians and lobbyists can keep on proposing a law until it goes through, so can we, including the very politicians who do not represent our views.

The situation might be bleak and I can understand the frustration but this kind of title is not helping.

[-] ZiClaud@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

I mean, kids are smart when it comes to technology, some even more than me who got a degree in computer science.

They'll find an alternative, maybe they'll to go back to personal websites, or join the fediverse, who knows.

Imma stay optimistic

[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

Diea it make tye Fediverse illegal?

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2026
109 points (100.0% liked)

Privacy

50176 readers
269 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS