Here we go again.
So the government and the tech platforms are pushing age verification and social media bans for under 16s and some sort of a curfew too.
“We’re here to protect the kids online,” they say.
Bullshit.
Let’s be clear about what’s actually happening.
They’re building surveillance infrastructure. Digital ID requirements to access any service. Once that’s normalised, it doesn’t shrink. It expands and while most people will be a little extreme with their tin foil hats. People who have seen similar policies like this be created and voted in know, that’s how large systems actually work.
Sad thing is. These policy makers don’t look deep into the mechanics of these things.
And what people need to remember is governments don’t give a fuck about your kids. Platforms don’t either. They care about data, algorithms, addiction and squeezing out as much revenue from you as possible…
…but they’ll use child safety to justify infrastructure that’d make Orwell nervous.
The irony? The real problems like bullying, predation, algorithmic radicalisation… None of that gets solved by bans. It gets worse. You push kids underground where there’s less visibility, less protection. More desperation. There will be fringe groups that will rise up and teach people how to break these restrictions.
If they actually cared they’d regulate algorithms, fund mental health, enforce existing laws. But that’s hard.
Surveillance? Easy peasy. And once it’s built, it never goes away.
The psychology is simple and we saw it during 2020…
People will trade privacy and freedom for the feeling of safety. That feeling can be manufactured with the right narrative. Each restriction feels small. “Just for kids.” “Just for security.” But suddenly you’re living in a system where you have to prove your identity to participate in society.
We’re the artists who think and question and can see the mechanics that’ll come into play.
Most people just accept it because they’re tired. Or they believe the framing and framing anything is a lot simpler than you think because human nature and psychology has been the same for hundreds of years.
Stephen Walker.
P.S. The UK is cooked as the kids say…