Narratives around age verification and restriction of access for minors are gaining traction in the EU. This blog analyses different EU policy files and warns that relying on age-gating risks undermining more effective solutions to online harm.
Most politicians and lobbyists who are pushing for this don’t give a damn about ‘online harm’. It’s a tool for controlling the population, suppressing government-critical information and cementing (or even further lowering) the status of marginalized groups. Case in point: Information about LGBT+ topics is often considered “mature” or “nsfw”, even when it’s not pornografic at all.
Most politicians and lobbyists who are pushing for this don’t give a damn about ‘online harm’. It’s a tool for controlling the population, suppressing government-critical information and cementing (or even further lowering) the status of marginalized groups. Case in point: Information about LGBT+ topics is often considered “mature” or “nsfw”, even when it’s not pornografic at all.