#eubigtech

Does anyone have any insights / scoops about the upcoming #EUKidsAct, set to be introduced this Thursday to "age gate" access to social media platforms across the EU? (Thus forcing every citizen to upload their government ID to establish their age) I'm super worried about the impact on the #OpenSocialWeb and the Fediverse in particular. 🔗 : https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-to-propose-new-legislation-on-minors-protection-on-thursday/ I wish they would share a clear description of the platforms affected by this legislation. #privacy #AgeVerification #EUBigTech

European institutions seem to be all in when it comes to introducing age verification mandates for citizens in member states: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/commission-sets-out-common-approach-eu-wide-age-verification-technologies I now have daily anxiety thinking about the future of the fediverse. So how do I channel this fear and turn it into something constructive? I'm going back to writing #selfhosting guides for newbies. It's a great distraction, which gives me a bit of hope. Especially the next guide, which will cover my favorite fediverse software - #GoToSocial (which is powering this instance) - and how to install and configure it. Your own little home on the fediverse! Lightweight and features-packed. Surely something like this would fall outside the scope of regulation. Right? Right? #MySoCalledSudoLife #YunoHost #VPS #AgeVerification #privacy #EUBigTech

This was definitely NOT on my bingo card for this year: European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen taking a moment between G7 meetings to promote the launch of the closed-source, for-profit network #WSocial. 🔗 : https://web.archive.org/web/20260617083436/https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rentzhog_kind-of-cool-to-see-ursula-von-der-leyen-ugcPost-7472769475885461504-hwct/ I fear this may be a harbinger of things to come: MANDATORY AGE VERIFICATION for social media across Europe. I hope I'm wrong on this. #privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #EUBigTech