Google urges US lawmakers not to ban teenagers from social media.::San Francisco– Google has asked the US Congress not to ban teenagers from social media, urging lawmakers to drop problematic protections like age-verification technology. The tech giant released its ‘Legislative Framework to Protect Children and Teens Online’ that came as more lawmakers, like Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), pushed for the Kids Online Safety Act, a …

  • shiroininja@lemmy.worldEnglish
    26·
    9 months ago

    Yeah I’m not into the government limiting the internet at all. Also, sometimes the internet is a safe haven for people who are alone or have trouble with their peers. Anonymity can help also get things off your chest, and be yourself. Although the big social media players aren’t about anonymity.

    Young pre-Autism me was helped greatly by the early internet and chat rooms. And adult me really is surviving socially online due to living in an area hostile to me and and indifferent at best. Discord, Matrix, and IRC have great communities that have made me feel welcome and share interests. I’d be completely isolated and alone without them.

    But notice I didn’t say traditional social media. I don’t like algorithms manipulating and all the tracking.

    • saturnus@lemm.eeEnglish
      151·
      9 months ago

      Yeah the obvious solution is to ban harvesting and storing of especially identifying data and the associated targeted ads etc but that will certainly never happen.

    • Infynis@midwest.socialEnglish
      71·
      9 months ago

      Yeah, just like most things, banning kids from social media would be especially harmful to minorities, be they LGBTQ+, neuroatypical, what have you

    • Godort@lemm.eeEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      I suspect that if this does pass it will have about as much efficacy as preventing kids from looking at online pornography.

      Many of the more technical-focused communication tools like IRC and Matrix will probably not even notice the change

        • sir_reginald@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          9 months ago

          end to end encryption in public chats like the typical IRC channel or public Matrix chatrooms is useless. Anyone can join, then anyone can decrypt the messages just by joining.