if I see one more "why age verification is bad" post that doesn't even bother to mention that locking young people out of huge sections of the public sphere - literally the stated goal and primary impact of this shit - is wrong in and of itself I will simply start hitting people with bricks
yes yes biometric data privacy blah blah adults can hypothetically by harmed by this too. what about the immediate and deliberate and not at all hypothetical harm to youth. why are you acting like a potential data leak about what your face looks like, which if it ever happened would at least be generally recognised as a problem, is a more serious issue than cutting millions of people off from information and community and public expression which is happening right now in the open with large scale support
it's got the stench of fucking "banned books week" on it. thousands of adults congratulating themselves for reading books literally no one is trying to stop them from reading while doing nothing to improve access for the young people who are the ones actually having those books made off-limits to them.
Age verification is bad because the internet is how we communicate in the modern world, and young people deserve the right to communicate just as adults do.
And because there is no "young people on the internet" problem that couldn't be solved by educating and materially empowering young people.
Also this explicitly includes neurodivergent young people, Mad young people, and "anti-recovery" young people.
Queer people who are still inexplicably pro-psychiatry and anti-youthlib will sometimes "compromise" like "Sometimes young people having internet privacy is Good, like when queer kids with unsupportive parents discover queer positivity and sex ed, but sometimes young people having internet privacy is Bad, like when Mentally Ill™️ kids whose parents are trying to Get Them Help discover Anti-Recovery!" and no, that one is also Good. Kids need to learn how to discreetly flush their risperdol just as much as they need to learn how to access condoms and binders.

















