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I find it absolutely wild that we've managed to ban social media for under-16s, but somehow not pornography.

And so kids can just stream hardcore, violent porn on tap, as long as they click "I am 18 or older".

I am all for limiting social media (though not necessarily in this implementation), but just utterly puzzled why what seems to be an equally damaging influence for developing minds can't be limited.

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Do we expect the social media ban implementation to be any different to the 18+ restriction on pornography? Personally I doubt it. Real enforcement will come from parents and schools now having authority to stop kids instead of currently being told “but all the other kids have it”.

There does seem to be an opportunity for a big tech companies like Apple and Google to introduce an over 18 verification that’s built into the browser but remains fully anonymous after initial verification.

Most over 18 verification schemes have faltered at the point where adults are asked to verify their identity to view among other things porn. If it was cryptographically proven anonymous there’d be much less resistance.

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