> threads about children and social media or short form video will draw a lot of comments supporting harsh age restrictions
I think there should be age restrictions. I prefer to do it in a privacy-preserving way. But I’m also not happy about conditioning the former on the existence of the latter.
Outside of better parental controls and restricting accounts based on self declared age, there isn't a way to perform age verification anonymously or privately.
> isn't a way to perform age verification anonymously or privately
Totally, no. Better than having users upload IDs with no use restrictions on the social-media companies? Yes. The harms justify, in my opinion and the opinion of lots of Americans (and importantly, those able and willing to call their electeds), a little bit of privacy encroachment for using a totally-voluntary product.
One component is to stop building tools that exploit impressionable minds.
They exploit all minds. But adults can make that choice responsibly. Kids cannot. We age gate alcohol and cigarettes. Social media is no different.