AI6YR Ben🤨
Seriously? I don't think you can put that genie back in the bottle...
BBC: Under-16s to be banned from TikTok, YouTube and other social media by next spring, Starmer says
Michael BuschI continue to wonder where the push for these blanket bans on social media, cell phones, etc. are coming from.
Since they manifestly do not help anyone.
Justin Macleod@michael_w_busch @ai6yr the desire for mass surveilence. Such a ban cannot be implemented without mass age verification.
The version here in Minnesota would involve "age estimation" done explicitly by surveilling everyone online.
I am just wondering if this is Facebook / Google / etc. pushing for bans that enable them to do more of the surveillance capitalism they already do to avoid actual effective regulation.
Or if there is some other motivation.
Charlie Stross@michael_w_busch @JustinMac84 @ai6yr AIUI Meta is lobbying *hard* for age verification to be mandated at every level and farmed out to the OS provider. Otherwise they'd be required to moderate their user contributed content, which annoys the shouty neo-nazis who generate the most advertising click-throughs. (They're not yet ready to switch to 100% AI-generated slop content, which would save on the moderation.)
Diane@cstross @michael_w_busch @JustinMac84 @ai6yr
I stumbled on a plausible argument that News corp is a big reason for pushing to ban teens from social media to get them back on traditional media.
https://www.techpolicy.press/youve-been-murdoched-australias-teen-ban-offers-a-warning-for-europe/
Having Australia and the UK be the first to go hard for teen bans is certainly consistent with it being due to news corp lobbying
Matt Panaro@alienghic perhaps they're still pissed off their MySpace acquisition failed to pan out 😝️
Bern@alienghic @cstross @michael_w_busch @JustinMac84 @ai6yr Living in Australia, it was blatantly obvious that the ban was being pushed hardest by Murdoch-owned outlets, Murdoch-influenced outlets, and Murchoch-owned politicians - er, sorry, "politicians to whom very rich people sometimes make donations..."
Supermoosie@Bern @alienghic @cstross @michael_w_busch @JustinMac84
They held a carefully stage managed summit which avoided any alternative views.
Then later used that summit as justification for the laws.
All the time Murdoch press, finch advertising and the "non profit" pushed it as the only solution.
Alternative views were drowned out or ignored.
Pushed through without understanding how, why kids use social media. How it would effect kids. Hanging out to dry the lonely, rural, those with family overseas, those with disabilities that get bullied in real life, but have online friends who don't care what they look like.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/11/21/teen-social-media-ban-jonathan-haidt-peter-malinauskas/
Offbeatmammal@alienghic @cstross @michael_w_busch @JustinMac84 @ai6yr perhaps they need to ban old people from watching/reading News Corp slop?
You might like this commentary on the teen social media moral panic introduced by a bit of elder TV satire.
https://zephoria.substack.com/p/protect-elders-ban-television
Protect Elders! Ban Television!!
Television is a serious problem! We must stop elders from watching TV for their own safety!Using a bit of satire, I dive into the current conversation about protecting children from social media "for their mental health." The tl;dr of this story: New regulations are fundamentally about exerting control over young people. They will do the opposite of helping them. #socialmedia #mentalhealth #safety #children
@alienghic @cstross @michael_w_busch @JustinMac84
The Australian u16 ban was also pushed by an advertising company and 32 global brands.
Finch Advertising agency, The radio personality on NOVA FM, owned by Murdoch were part of the "non profit" pushing it.
Did not care about kids, just wanted them back watching tv and radio, so they could consume advertising they controled.
They also owned AI age verification software to sell.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/09/36-months-teen-social-media-ban-big-tech-brands/
Amgine@alienghic @cstross @michael_w_busch @JustinMac84 @ai6yr
Add #Canada to your list of commonwealth nations being targeted, though, and the theory is no longer quite so persuasive.
If I recall correctly, in Australia and the USA the big lobbyist hires were by surveillance tech (e.g. Google, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Palantir, everything Musky) - a veritable K-bomb in Washington D.C. - and by <reads notes> PACs backing Trump & the Republican party including religious-oriented.
@Amgine @cstross @michael_w_busch @JustinMac84 @ai6yr
Yeah the various far right rich people factions hang out in the same group chats.
Like I believe part of the push for AI is coming from the fossil fuel industry looking to keep demand up. So you get things like the Saudi's investing in AI.