Pinterest CEO to Greece: Regulate Kids or Face Tobacco Comparisons; Meta's $2 Billion Playbook Targets State IDs
Global policy pressure is pushing mandatory restrictions on social media for users under 16, evidenced by reports from Greece and precedents set by Australia.
The backlash centers on profit motives. Some cite child safety, echoing the Pinterest CEO's tobacco analogy. Conversely, critics like core argue Meta profits immensely because bans force the company to outsource data collection using mandatory state IDs. FauxLiving claims Meta spent over $2 BILLION lobbying specifically to access this state-verified data, calling out the scheme. Meanwhile, XLE argues surveillance fails; kids just migrate to riskier corners of the web, ignoring the profit incentive.
The narrative splits sharply between legislative panic and corporate malfeasance. The weight of suspicion points toward a data grab: that regulatory action serves to mandate, rather than limit, data harvesting by Big Tech.
Key Points
Mandatory age restrictions are a global trend, not an anomaly.
Cited by the consensus recognizing policies starting in Greece and modeled after Australian action.
Social media companies gain profit from impending bans.
core argues bans force Meta to outsource data collection while still legally accessing valuable state-verified user data.
Meta's lobbying efforts are purely about state-backed data access.
FauxLiving reported Meta spending over $2 BILLION to ensure access to data linked to government IDs.
Simple bans do not solve the underlying addiction problem.
XLE stated bans only treat symptoms, failing to curb the structural incentives of profit maximization.
Both social media and mandatory ID laws violate core privacy rights.
AntiBullyRanger asserted that both areas represent a fundamental breach of internet privacy.
Source Discussions (5)
This report was synthesized from the following Lemmy discussions, ranked by community score.