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News & Current Events May 12, 2026 at 8:32 AM

EU targets social media to protect children, von der Leyen says

Posted by Warm_Championship726

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frugaleringenieur May 12, 2026 +91
It’s never about protecting children when politicians open their mouth.
91
Mr_Flibble_1977 May 12, 2026 +24
It's always about control
24
No-Cryptographer7494 May 12, 2026 -17
How is the minimum age for social media or children gambling protection in the eu not about protecting children? The world is not black and white
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frugaleringenieur May 12, 2026 +18
Because in grey small footnote text they introduce regulations to ban VPN and implement systems to cross connect any service usage by now your mandated personal identification. It's really not just "Hey, you're above 16, ok to use that service" but it needs to be tracked and connected - which is not needed at all to just "age verify". There are easy, well understood, proofed, secure, and independent reliable methods to verify age, i.e., zero knowledge proofs by state issued IDs. The service would only get back "hey, that one is verified above an age" but not who he/she is or communicating back and forth with centralized servers. Though, it is not enough for regulators 😉
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PomegranateBasic3671 May 12, 2026 +4
Could you link the "grey small footnotes"? That sounds interesting
4
Pocok5 May 12, 2026 +5
The issue is that it's more like "in order to protect your children, we gotta know where they are right now, what they are doing, what websites they are using, who they are talking to and about what, in real time, all the time. Oh, and all this about you as well juuuust in case. Anyway gotta go check out this neat vacation spot in the Pacific" 10-15 years ago if somebody rocked up to parents with that pitch they'd get socked in the face and have the cops called on them. Now this sort of thing gets a politician +4 years in office and a complimentary blowie from data collection companies.
5
ThatGuyBench May 12, 2026 +31
Lately it seems that so much of internet regulations are framed behind guise of "pRoTeCtInG tHe ChIlDrEn!" And with shock I notice that more and more people are buying this c***. 10-15 years ago, you would go on listnook and you would see comments which would make it seem that politicians who advocate for breaking up privacy and regulate the internet, should worry just the same as French aristrocracy did during the French revolution. And now its full of neutered crowds are acting like this is normal and even supporting it. Its bewildering how the society here has devolved into soccermom Karen mentality.
31
Paranoidnl May 12, 2026 +5
Because it's the 1 argument u can't really counter without being deemed a pedo because you don't want to protect the kids. And being a pedo is still a disqualifier if you are not in position of power nowadays, once in power you are fine.
5
Ok-Lettuce-1381 May 13, 2026 +3
10-15 years ago social Media wasnt frying childrens brains at this Rate. Even if what you say is true: tiktok, instagram and Co are a huge problem that needs to be dealt with
3
Ziddix May 12, 2026 +18
No it's about surveillance. Be honest at least.
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sumpfriese May 12, 2026 +23
Zensursula at it again.
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Nedimar May 12, 2026 +13
Legislation on infinite scroll and addictive algorithms is the right way to go. This should've been done instead of the push for age verification.
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Haru1st May 12, 2026 +3
But then how are they gonna get more data?
3
sumpfriese May 12, 2026 -4
Agreed regulation is needed. I just domt trust ursula to have any common sense on this issue. But it looks like there are more people involved than her so in the end it might not turn out to be the shit show I expect.
-4
PomegranateBasic3671 May 12, 2026 +3
You are aware that the presiden of the commission *never* just writes policy alone right? where did you get the idea that was even a risk?
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sumpfriese May 12, 2026 +2
Neither does the german minister of Family (title she had when she tried to push for full internet censorship). But they do have influence and can push for stupid shit.
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PomegranateBasic3671 May 12, 2026 +2
Yes, but your first comment very much implied that you thought she might be writing it alone. If not why would you write: *"But it looks like there are more people involved than her so in the end it might not turn out to be the shit show I expect."* That was never the case in the first place?
2
sumpfriese May 12, 2026 +1
Some initiatives get pushed by a single person with influence even if they arent the only ones who have to sign off on it. Some initiatives are written by yes men or "party policy" followers, and some initiatives are written by a single person and then never read by any of the people supposed to read them.
1
Similar_Rapier_7596 May 12, 2026 +4
I'd much rather have laws that punish parents for not being parents than have laws that punish ISPs and online content providers for not being parents.
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Fywq May 12, 2026 +10
Honestly it should be about protecting the entire population from algorithmic manipulation. It's not like our kids are doing much worse than many older people.
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thebeardofbeards May 12, 2026 +3
It's everyone, not just kids or old people.
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Fywq May 12, 2026 +1
Yeah I guess that wasn't clear, but I meant everybody older than kids really. So fully agree with you.
1
Bonyred May 12, 2026 +13
It's a wonder there isn't a call for all road traffic to slow down to 0.5kmph so that children can play safely on the motorway.
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QueenVanraen May 12, 2026 +2
Cuz the car lobby is even bigger. Here in Germany you can kill people w/ a car and get away with it (worst case you're not allowed to drive for a few months).
2
frugaleringenieur May 12, 2026 +3
You are mixing things. The hint is that this measure is for surveilance and not children protection. There is no lobby for children or lobby for citizen interests, but there is the natural wish of states to have control and there is a lobby for surveilance and intelligence companies.
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PomegranateBasic3671 May 12, 2026 -8
Has anyone actually read the article, or are we up in arms about nothing? Addictive algorithms are a problem, AI on social media platforms clearly is also a problem, *and* kids having almost unrestricted access to the kinds of content we wouldn't allow them nearby had it been real life is also a problem. Does anyone here have any solutions, or are we angry just to be angry while ignoring the actual problems? Should we also start allowing kids to buy cigs and p*** mags?
-8
frugaleringenieur May 12, 2026 +8
It's not about kids 😉
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PomegranateBasic3671 May 12, 2026 -11
It is though. Congratulations, you've been played by conspiracy cooks. ... Unless of course you have other evidence than schitzo conjecture and smug emotes 😉
-11
Ok-Lettuce-1381 May 13, 2026
I dont get it. You are getting downvoted even if what you are saying is absolutly true. Are people really not seeing the problem??
0
PhotographElegant475 May 12, 2026 -5
let's be real, this is to protect all EU citizens. The children who grow up with this insane permanent indoctrination from political and ideological grifters are going to be our coworkers, voters and politicians. We already see a huge shift towards extreme far-right personalities, fascism and sexism in young men that will further destabilize the once great project of the European Union. We have to protect kids from the irreparable damage they suffer at the moment that is a direct result of unrestricted access to social media. Parents have proven to be incompetent in ensuring their children don't commit online based self mutilation. We need laws and resolutions that punish those who choose to harm children in this way.
-5
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