2026-03-17 20:12:07
There is support for these laws because people think the only consequence of a ban on a thing is that the thing stops existing.
For instance: Heroin is dangerous and addictive? Ban it then.
And suddenly you have organized crime and a grey market and criminal gangs shooting each other in the streets while addicts can’t seek help and have to resort to crime to fund their addiction. Their lives more chaotic and criminal than ever. Our streets are littered in needles.
Well done everyone.
Now we think algorithmic social media may be mind bending?
Shall we ban it? For kids? Even if we can’t define it?
If you break kids access to the internet you sacrifice all the good that the majority of kids are getting from it for an ineffective solution which won’t fix anything and will mean massive increases in government surveillance and censorship. To data-hordes being hacked and people suffering ID theft.
And it won’t help.
Misogyny and sexism and depression are older than the internet.
Plus of course kids remain better at accessing computers than their parents. You’re going to end up breaking the internet for adults who can’t figure out how to verify while the kids start to use VPNs and stolen IDs to browse 4chan.