New data from the UK’s age verification rollout provides hard evidence of what internet governance experts have been warning about for years: these laws don’t protect children—they systematically drive users from regulated, compliant platforms to unregulated, non-compliant ones while accomplishing nothing except creating a massive privacy surveillance apparatus.
while accomplishing nothing except creating a massive privacy surveillance apparatus.
And that’s the govs real goal achieved. They didn’t care about the children.
Except apparently it doesn’t even do a good job of that
To recap: compliant sites hemorrhaged users while non-compliant sites experienced massive growth.
Even if what’s really behind these laws is authoritarian conspiracy, hard to find a way to look at it that makes them seem competent.
I know the comic shows Uncle Sam but it still applies to the UK.
