The internet is replacing parents.

So, if you haven’t heard, a lot of things are changing in English-speaking countries. The US, UK, and Australia have implemented, or are about to implement, laws to “protect kids.” It’s disguised as protecting kids, but it’s actually about mass control.

In my opinion, this is dumb. If you live in the UK, you must prove you’re 18 or older with either a government ID (like a driver’s license) or a face scan, which is creepy as fuck. Where is this data stored? I don’t know. What if it’s on a system from 1999 set up by people who know nothing about basic cybersecurity? If I were a UK citizen right now, I’d be worried about what happens to my data once I send it to them.

The UK government has told people “don’t share your driver’s license online,” yet they’ve implemented a law that basically forces you to do that.

They’ve even restricted Spotify. Are we deadass? How can swear words or some other shit be considered dangerous for youth? For example, Lounge Act by Nirvana is marked explicit because of the line “I’ll keep fightin’ jealousy / Until it’s fucking gone,” which shouldn’t be considered explicit in the first place. The UK government acts like those weird Christians who say “if you swear, you’ve sinned.” For some reason, Nirvana’s song Rape Me isn’t marked explicit, and I have no idea why.

Why should the government even act like the parent here? Parents might know a lot about the internet and can restrict usage themselves. This is like when a parent isn’t watching their kid, the kid touches the stove and gets burned, and then the parent sues the stove company for not making it “kid safe.”

The Australian government is doing the same thing. They literally ban all social media for anyone under 16. Could kids still be anonymous online? Maybe, but I don’t know.

This might change in the coming months if the European Parliament decides to push the same thing happening in the UK. Let’s see what happens.

Lastly, YouTube is rolling out a US-only feature that guesses your age based on your watch history. In true Google fashion, they use AI to do it. If the AI is wrong, you must submit your ID to Google. TikTok is also adding age verification for US users if they think you’re underage. So if I get Italian brainrot on my For You Page, does TikTok think I’m 5?

Right now, this is only for US users, and it’s unknown if Google or TikTok will do the same in Europe. At this point, we should all be living in Eastern Europe or Asia.