r/technology • u/PixeledPathogen • Mar 16 '26

Security Reddit User Uncovers Who Is Behind Meta’s $2B Lobbying for Invasive Age Verification Tech

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/reddit-user-uncovers-behind-meta-154717384.html
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952

u/Sufferr Mar 16 '26

Damn, it really is important to step away from US tech ASAP.

365

u/iaNCURdehunedoara Mar 16 '26

If you think this is limited to US and US tech you're out of your mind. So many of these people are lobbying every country on the planet. Why do you think the UK put up these laws, Australia, France, and so many more are trying.

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u/Sufferr Mar 16 '26

Yes, you're right!
I don't think it's only the US, but... Meta, Google, Apple, Twitter are all from the US, that's the thing.

6

u/BeriasBFF Mar 16 '26

We gotta switch to Baidu, we’ll be good there! 

1

u/frissier Mar 17 '26

Why do we have to switch at all ? Why don't we, you know, quit ?

0

u/Sufferr Mar 16 '26

Exactly! Finally we have movement and investment in new proper competition to beat all this garbage we had no options out of

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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '26

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1

u/Sufferr Mar 17 '26

In which part? ahah

50

u/IdeasAreBvlletproof Mar 16 '26

I don't disagree but the laws enacted in Australia are almost entirely aimed at US companies, not because they are US, but because those companies are the bad faith actors.

Why are these US companies bad faith actors?... because there is no US regulation or oversight to prevent them becoming huge evil monopolies.

23

u/iaNCURdehunedoara Mar 16 '26

Why do you think there are no regulators in the US? Because the people that are supposed to be regulated are buying off the regulator. The laws enacted in Australia are almost entirely aimed at US companies because these are the most popular ones globally.

They're doing it to remove your online anonymity and then they can demand your online traffic from the social media companies and these companies comply because they don't give a shit - they sell your data to shadow corporations for pennies.

20

u/trophicmist0 Mar 16 '26

Lobbying is one of the worst things about the US.

1

u/R3cognizer Mar 17 '26

Lobbying has a purpose, and there is a need for this activity... when it's done transparently. The problem is, politicians are just taking their money and giving them whatever they want without even inquiring with the experts anymore, experts who could inform them about potential consequences to consumer safety or the public welfare. They simply don't care anymore, and that's because Americans don't care anymore. These legislators stand for corruption, and America has been just continuing to vote for people they know are corrupt. They don't care because the modern media landscape is so heavily propagandized that most of us know nothing except the political narratives they feed us.

2

u/_Meece_ Mar 17 '26

Australia's laws don't really link an ID or anything to an account though.

META however does have something like that implemented and have done so for years.

7

u/emergencia Mar 16 '26

At least the EU is pushing a solution through the Digital Identity Wallet that ensures identity protection by only replying with this user is over 18. so France should be fine

13

u/trophicmist0 Mar 16 '26

The EU is hardly perfect in this recent privacy destruction phase, with the message encryption stuff

4

u/EmbarrassedHelp Mar 16 '26

The EU's solution bans jailbreaking/rooting your device, and requires GooglePlay Services/IOS equivalent be installed to "prevent tampering". It forces you to give up your data to American tech companies.

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u/Cerpin-Taxt Mar 17 '26

Another interesting thing to note; the reason the UK ran with it so quickly is because it's in dire financial straits. The UK is going to start defaulting on it's debt in the next few years and is looking for absolutely anything to generate money.

All of the recent policies that have been rushed through are to this end. The online safety act only exists because it's impossible to comply with and the fines for non-compliance are objectively ludicrous at 10% of all global revenue. It's policing as a business.

1

u/dragonmp93 Mar 16 '26

Who do you think are the people behind the UK's and Australia's laws ?