Hacker News Reader

Comment by nl | Hacker News Reader

>> for their ad platforms gives better data

> No, they all support harvesting your data so they can continue doing what they do best: building shadow profiles and targeting ads.

I think we are agreeing adamantly here?

View on HN

You said that Meta doesn't want to be responsible for age verification - they absolutely do, because that gives them every single user's identity. Forcing it at the OS level is not an attempt to put the responsibility on the OS, it's an attempt to drive a wedge into the OS where Apple can't hide users' identities.

Apple wouldn't give the identity to Facebook, only the age bracket.

No, they are far more cunning than you give them credit, they want to have the information but bare no responsibility for both collecting and validating it themselves nor for when the kids circumvent it.

So they are in the golden zone of maximum exploitation and plausible deniability.

They will literally say:

Of course, we showed that one teen 500 gambling and porn ads a day, Apple/Google/Microsoft told us he is 65, it's their fault! Sure every other word he posted was rizz, but how could we possibly know he was not 65.

> You said that Meta doesn't want to be responsible for age verification - they absolutely do

No, they really, really do not!

In their own words:

> There is a practical framework that directly answers the complex logistical challenges I’ve laid out: centralizing age verification and parental approval at the app store level. App stores are already the gateway through which teens access every app on their phones. And we don’t have to start from scratch. Apple and Google already collect age information when a parent sets up their teen’s phone, and they already have systems in place to obtain parental approval before teens can make purchases. We’re simply asking that this same mechanism be extended to all app downloads. By verifying a person’s age just once at this device level, the phone itself acts as a single, secure checkpoint.

https://about.fb.com/news/2026/06/how-to-verify-age-online/

Or:

> Meta has been lobbying the federal government for new rules to implement age verification at the app store level — which would put the burden on companies like Apple and Google, not individual platforms like Meta’s Facebook and Instagram.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/25/news/meta-lobbyi...

Or:

> Now they [ed: Meta] want Apple and Google to build similar systems that every app can access, turning age verification into persistent device fingerprinting.... The proposed laws hammer Apple's App Store and Google Play with compliance requirements but reportedly spare social media platforms

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/reddit-user-uncovers-beh...

This shifts the blame, and they get the data to sell to data brokers. Less accountability, same access to info.

No, because these laws give them less data. But they also give them less liability which is what they care more about in this instance.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com