Meta is seemingly trying to throw the open internet under the bust by calling on European to expand age verification to app stores.
Last week, I wrote an article detailing how it’s seemingly only a matter of time before lawmakers in countries outside of Australia would start expanding age verification to go beyond blocking pornographic websites. After all, Australia openly contemplated expanding age verification to include video games and, later, social media. So, it was only logical to conclude that it was only a matter of time before other governments started pushing to expand this government internet censorship scheme.
Well, those words I wrote ended up being downright prophetic. In fact, the accuracy was downright spooky because the very next day, I ended up learning of a US Republican plan to expand age verification laws to include app stores.
To be clear, none of the problems associated with age verification laws for pornographic websites were ever solved. It’s still a privacy nightmare, relies on technology that has never worked, and are violations of freedom of expression protections afforded in multiple countries’ respective constitutions. Of course, as I’ve always said via showing the words of these laws supporters, age verification laws on pornographic websites are by no means and end goal, but rather, a starting point for greater expanded powers of government to crack down on legally protected speech across the internet. Pornographic websites just so happens to be the determined path of least resistance to normalizing government internet censorship laws for the general public.
Of course, there are going to be some who think that the Republican initiative is just a one off and that there is little chance that such a law would pass in the first place. While the jury may be out on the latter talking point, the former talking point, as I found out today, just got shot down.
Apparently, Meta is trying to throw the open internet under the bus by lobbying European lawmakers to expand age verification onto app stores (similar to the idea that recently surfaced in the United States). From RTE:
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has called for new EU regulations to harmonise rules for age verification on platforms.
The company is proposing that age-verification and parental approval of app downloads for teens under 16 happen at the app-store or operating system level.
Many campaigners and regulators argue that verifying the age of users should be the responsibility of the platforms.
A survey of parents across eight European markets commissioned by Meta shows strong support for legislation that would require parental approval for children under 16 to download apps.
300 Irish parents were surveyed and 87% of them said they would support such a law.
Indeed, there has been a push for some time to implement age verification laws on social media as well. It’s entirely possible that Meta is trying to make a power play move by foisting that responsibility onto app stores as they wash their hands of all responsibility. Further, it could be a move to try and crack down on competition in the app sector so that smaller apps would get pushed out of the space due to higher costs of being permitted in the various app stores.
Still, the concept is about as insane as demanding magical unicorn age verification technology for pornographic websites. Some have likened it to a government internet ID law – and honestly, I can’t say I disagree with that notion given that what’s on the table now is not even that far removed from that. The only difference seems to be who manages that highly sensitive personal information – and who knows how long it’ll take before the government decides that they should take over that role?
Either way, this push represents a huge privacy, security, and free speech threat to ordinary every day users. By demanding that apps abide by whatever half assed age verification system that gets a government stamp of approval, you limit the number of people who enter into the market in the first place. What’s more, it obliterates any reasonable belief that privacy can be maintained in the first place. In fact, it gives the impression that you are downloading an app under the governments watchful eye.
The infuriating part about this is knowing that it’s Meta, an internet based corporation, that is pushing for this whole idea in the first place. While it’s not the first time Meta has betrayed the concept of the free an open internet (a concept it wholly depended on to be successful in the first place), it’s still outrageous that they are doing this now.
Moreover, this is yet another instance where censorship creep is trying to take hold in multiple countries. We’ve already seen the obliteration of the talking point about how age verification is only going to be limited to pornographic websites. The next real question is where government intends to take expanding age verification next after this. At this point, is it going to take hold at the ISP level where every internet user is expected to partake in a government approved identification program beyond what is already in place? Are users supposed to submit to an identification program before opening a web browser or any internet related program? Honestly, I can only see the sky being the limit at this point. Governments from around the world have already taken things this far, why not go full 1984 and have every little microscopic movement tracked by surveillance programs? After all, we’re not that far removed from that now if the proposals are anything to go by.
