I would be more sympathetic to YouTube's plight here if they weren't aggressively pushing addictive features like "Shorts" with no option to disable them.
The quality of youtube videos when it comes to content that does not waste your time is so low, that I must oppose this only based on principle and not the merit of the platform.
We're going to see more and more crackdown on internet access, in the name of making it "safe", or "safe for kids", particularly. All they want is pushing for censorship and control, though, on top of collecting and selling even more data. We'd be wise to make an effort to migrate to censorship resistant overlay networks like Hyphanet (formerly Freenet) or i2p before it's too late.
It IS a matter of national security if your nations children grow up and witness all the horrors it's government does abroad and heavens forbid grow anti government sentiment or opinions.
I'm surprised at the lack of care for children in commentary around social media bans, the UK's online safety act blocking discord/porn/etc without proof of age, and sexually violent video games being removed from stores due to payment processors.
If we see a child bullied in school, we don't say the parents of the victim are not doing enough parenting. If an adult flashes or cat calls a child in the street, we don't blame the child's parents for not doing enough parenting.
Why is it when it comes to social media/pornography/sexually violent games (that would not have received a rating if sold in stores 10 years ago) everyone is up in arms that things are going too far. All you see is conspiracy theory nonsense at how the state wants to mind control us.
Apple tried to fix some of this at the client end with CSAM scanning and automatic dick pic blurring but had to roll some of this back due to the uproar and accusations on spying etc.
We no longer live in a high trust society and children are paying the price for it, as well as adults.
I don't want my phone scanned or to be denied access to adult discord channels or have to submit an ID to visit "adult" content like home-brewing beer subreddits. But now that's the price I am having to pay because no one wants to be responsible. Especially the companies making money off of children.
But what are we supposed to do instead when everything has been shot down previously? The amount of children being groomed is probably the highest it has ever been, but because it's done in their own bedrooms over the internet everyone ignores it.
Aparently the person who recently started a censorship campaign against games that lead to delisting not only porn titles but also horror and other categories from itch.io is on the board to decide what its defined as adult content.
> Collective Shout, a small but vocal lobby group, has long called for a mandatory internet filter that would prevent access to adult content for everyone in Australia. Its director, Melinda Tankard Reist, was recently appointed to the stakeholder advisory board for the government’s age assurance technology trial before the under-16s social media ban comes into effect in Australia in December.[1]
I have no idea what the hell is going on and it all seems very coordinated but I hope the pendulum swings back so hard next time it takes at least half a century for Tipper Gore to resurrect again.
Let's be honest here, it was never about social media, children's rights, porn, drugs, crime, or similar. It was always about introducing government issued digital ID and enforcing it on the internet to tighten the control and, as a side effect, let people censor themselves.
It is no coincidence that multiple Western countries are pushing for the same thing at the same time. The UK is another example, with EU-level discussions about the same and chat control.
If I were younger, I'd think that's a coincidence and has nothing to do with WEF and similar totalitarian globalist organizations pushing their agendas. But now, as a grown-up cynic, I realize that it's just a plain old conspiracy in practice, not a theory anymore.
It's a sad thing that once free societies are rapidly deteriorating and approaching China's level of freedoms. I'm afraid there's not much time left to prevent a dystopian Orwellian (or Zamyatinesque) future of see-through citizen slaves.
I find it weird that people aren't questioning the motives behind these changes a little more. Is it not strange this is coming at the same time as the UK Online Safety Act?
There are reports of posts related to the middle eastern conflict being censored. Somehow I don't think this about violence and adult content.
I see a lot of 'what about the children' (whataboutism). And I look at various laws in the Western countries, and there is a consensus-ish that under majority age can still be treated as an adult.
Why does this matter? Why aren't we asking the 17, 16, 15, 14 year olds and down about their situations instead, including opening up the vote to them?
The big problem with all these 'butwhataboutthechildren' laws, is they are by definition, disenfranchised, but they are also subject to the whims of the voters.
Now people will naturally say 'something something prefrontal cortex'. Even the UNCRC 2019a says that. However, we're not running fMRI on children and adults as a permission to vote - its just a simple age gate. And I would argue, that another commentor's parent who thinks Pokemon were demon names probably wouldn't pass that either.
But we end up with garbage laws, and only exist to make those who can vote feel good, while doing damage to those who can't vote.
And as an aside, if companies are doing predatory and illegal things, then the companies should be punished appropriately.
19 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 40.7 ms ] threadI thought it used to be that parents were responsible for their kids - that's not even a thing now?
And as if this will make any difference to anything?
I think one day the Chinese will be saying "at least we're not living in the west"
Just as we have a list of ad domains blocked by adblockers.
Why not build on top of platforms?
YouTube won't fight it for that reason. It's regulatory capture.
It IS a matter of national security if your nations children grow up and witness all the horrors it's government does abroad and heavens forbid grow anti government sentiment or opinions.
If we see a child bullied in school, we don't say the parents of the victim are not doing enough parenting. If an adult flashes or cat calls a child in the street, we don't blame the child's parents for not doing enough parenting.
Why is it when it comes to social media/pornography/sexually violent games (that would not have received a rating if sold in stores 10 years ago) everyone is up in arms that things are going too far. All you see is conspiracy theory nonsense at how the state wants to mind control us.
Apple tried to fix some of this at the client end with CSAM scanning and automatic dick pic blurring but had to roll some of this back due to the uproar and accusations on spying etc.
We no longer live in a high trust society and children are paying the price for it, as well as adults.
I don't want my phone scanned or to be denied access to adult discord channels or have to submit an ID to visit "adult" content like home-brewing beer subreddits. But now that's the price I am having to pay because no one wants to be responsible. Especially the companies making money off of children.
But what are we supposed to do instead when everything has been shot down previously? The amount of children being groomed is probably the highest it has ever been, but because it's done in their own bedrooms over the internet everyone ignores it.
> Collective Shout, a small but vocal lobby group, has long called for a mandatory internet filter that would prevent access to adult content for everyone in Australia. Its director, Melinda Tankard Reist, was recently appointed to the stakeholder advisory board for the government’s age assurance technology trial before the under-16s social media ban comes into effect in Australia in December.[1]
I have no idea what the hell is going on and it all seems very coordinated but I hope the pendulum swings back so hard next time it takes at least half a century for Tipper Gore to resurrect again.
1- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/29/mastercard-vis...
It is no coincidence that multiple Western countries are pushing for the same thing at the same time. The UK is another example, with EU-level discussions about the same and chat control.
If I were younger, I'd think that's a coincidence and has nothing to do with WEF and similar totalitarian globalist organizations pushing their agendas. But now, as a grown-up cynic, I realize that it's just a plain old conspiracy in practice, not a theory anymore.
It's a sad thing that once free societies are rapidly deteriorating and approaching China's level of freedoms. I'm afraid there's not much time left to prevent a dystopian Orwellian (or Zamyatinesque) future of see-through citizen slaves.
People will realize it when it's too late.
There are reports of posts related to the middle eastern conflict being censored. Somehow I don't think this about violence and adult content.
Why does this matter? Why aren't we asking the 17, 16, 15, 14 year olds and down about their situations instead, including opening up the vote to them?
The big problem with all these 'butwhataboutthechildren' laws, is they are by definition, disenfranchised, but they are also subject to the whims of the voters.
Now people will naturally say 'something something prefrontal cortex'. Even the UNCRC 2019a says that. However, we're not running fMRI on children and adults as a permission to vote - its just a simple age gate. And I would argue, that another commentor's parent who thinks Pokemon were demon names probably wouldn't pass that either.
But we end up with garbage laws, and only exist to make those who can vote feel good, while doing damage to those who can't vote.
And as an aside, if companies are doing predatory and illegal things, then the companies should be punished appropriately.