undefined | Better HN

0 pointswoodruffw3y ago0 comments

When you buy cigarettes in a store, you normally get carded.

It stands to reason that an equivalent online system would require a similar online solution; most people are not particularly enthused by the idea of having to present an ID to consume any information that could potentially considered to fall under “social media.”

0 comments

3 comments · 1 top-level

mattmanser3y ago· 2 in thread

They already card you in most social media apps. This is like saying "oh no, they want you to use your real identity". It's already a part of the process.

This is incredibly destructive and addictive stuff. The days of the wild west of the internet are over.

woodruffwOP3y ago

I’m not aware of any major social media site that makes users present a government issued ID during their normal registration flow. They might require it for registrations that trigger a fraud or similar alert, but it’s certainly not the norm.

If you want to get rid of a destructive and addictive thing, maybe it would be more effective to just advocate for that. Requiring a government ID and government categorization of every site on the Internet is not likely to accomplish what you want.

mattmanser3y ago

These days they aggressively get rid of fake accounts, they're doing everything but requiring id.

So the only effective thing would be to put it behind a government id check.

The reality is we've relied "on the parents" to police devices and it hasn't worked at all.

it's too much to ask them to do, the internet is too vast and too chaotic. The onus needs to be put onto the companies.

Requiring a government id is all there is, it's the solution.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse