"If lawmakers picture under-13 social media use as a bunch of kids lying about their age and sneaking onto apps behind their parents’ backs, they’ve got it wrong. Serious studies that have looked at this all find the opposite: most under-13 use is out in the open, with parents’ knowledge, and often with their direct help."

#JoeMullin, 2026

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/congress-wants-hand-your-parenting-big-tech

Supporters of #B416 need to read this.

#SocialMedia #EFF

"At the least, letting children and young teens have unfettered online access will seem worse than letting them frolic in rush hour traffic. Come to think of it, it already does."

#JaneClifton, The Listener, March 4-10, 2023

Well ... yes. The key word here being "unfettered". Having arrived online in the late 1990s, when it was a cross between a university campus and a red light district, it's never been news to me that it's not a place for children to play *unsupervised*.

(1/?)

#B416

#CLuxon is doubling down on the #B416 social media ban for kiwis under 16. This is a terrible idea, for many well-documented reasons. But, if tech policy and civil rights activists allow ourselves to be pulled into a narrow, negative campaign against it, there's a risk this will push many people into supporting it on a 'better than nothing' basis.

What we need is a positive campaign for a suite of tech regulations that can actually shift power away from technofascists.

(1/?)

#TechPolicyNZ

"... the advocates of a social media ban for kids under 16 appear willing to ignore the privacy implications that the proposal would have *for everyone*. For a glimpse into the void, check out the United Kingdom’s Offcom advice page on the subject, which cheerily makes a case for wholesale privacy intrusions, with a minimum of reliable safety rails."

#GordonCampbell, 2025

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2510/S00066/on-labours-cgt-the-governments-mean-spirit-and-timor-lestes-future.htm

The OffCom page Gordon links to is;

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/protecting-children/age-checks-for-online-safety--what-you-need-to-know-as-a-user

#privacy #B416 #OffCom

StopB416 - Take action now:

https://b416.nz/

by @rabble @npub1wmr34t36fy03m8hvgl96zl3znndyzyaqhwmwdtshwmtkg03fetaqhjg240

#b416 #nz #newzealand #aotearoa #privacy #kyc #digitalprivacy #digitalrights #freespeech #luxon #ChristopherLuxon