Whoops, yeah you’re correct. I read that bit and then skimmed over the rest and it apparently left my brain.
I think my opinions stay the same for the same reasons, though.
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Of course there should be age-restricted spaces, just like there should be gender-restricted spaces and language-restricted spaces and preferred-hot-beverage-restricted spaces. Some information is not appropriate or useful for everyone, sometimes people want a place to interact specifically with those who share their experiences, that’s normal human behavior.
What we don’t need is some kind of automated system making those calls, even an imaginary automated system that never makes mistakes and can’t be exploited. If you want a curated space, you need to do the curation.
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If there was a Digital Passport of some sort that verified age without:
- doxxing
- being used to pump netizens age-relevant advertisements
- being hijacked as a way to bar people from sex-ed, LGBTQ-ed, general world politics, or whatever else governments want to hide
IDK how I feel about sites banning/restricting me (tangentially, I don’t care about SocMed much, so I’m not even gonna touch on that unlike everyone else), but I’d love to be able to control my own audience and restrict other people.
I’d love to be able to make like, E-for-Everyone, Teen-Plus, Adults Only art, fiction, etc. and have peace of mind that 10 year olds aren’t putting in Birth Year: 1980 to gain access to what they shouldn’t.
I’unno, I’m very tip-toey about that kind of stuff. I don’t have the “I don’t care!”-attitude to be like “It’s Little Timmy™’s MOM’S fault that he saw my mature rated Cloud x Sephiroth fanfiction!!”,
like, I always feel like the responsibility’s on me, so if I could have a way to manage and control audience, that’d be useful to me.
I know you mean age-gating in general, but I’m still mostly positioning my opinion from the perspective of blocking minors from certain content (as I assume that’s what Australia’s law is targeting)
As a former adult space infiltrating, reading porn at a definitely too young age kid, my feeling are unexpectedly complicated! To attempt to age-gate content has the burden of making a definitive stance on what is “harmful” to them, and so as a blanket statement I reject restricting access based on age on the web, simply because I think the media’s effect on youth is more nuanced than good and bad.
Using a personal example, I was reading Spikes by Marlo Mogensen and Alison Bechdel’s DTWOF at 16. Those 2 are fundamental texts that helped me in my understanding of my queer identity, and are also definitely not for kids my age! The “adult” content I encountered on the web has in equal parts warped my view of the world as it has contributed to my self-actualisation.
Ultimately though, I believe in the good side of things, and I would rather give kids the web than to give into the moral panic of protecting kids from “corruptive forces”.
To be clear, I’m not saying I’m against age rating. It is the responsible thing to do to let people know the intended audience, and you probably shouldn’t show gore to a baby. But in the particular case of young teens I believe they are capable of understanding boundaries and consequences. The web being “unrestricted” as it is makes it a tool for self empowerment for them and, as some people have mentioned here, a reprieve from the rest of their life that is heavily surveilled by the adults around them.
More thoughts later? I’m approaching my workplace.
edit: oops this wasnt meant to be a direct reply to starbreaker
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It’s OK. I don’t expect burnt offerings when people summon me here.
Regardless, a post I wrote in 2024 might be relevant when it comes to age-gating in general.
(Yes, I did read those authors as a kid.)
Even in the “perfect tech” world, I don’t like the idea of age-gated web access. It sounds good in theory, but it breaks more things than it fixes on the open web.
The web works because it doesn’t need permission. When you use age as a gate, you’ve added an identity layer to basic access that can be used for other types of filtering. It’s kids today, “sensitive topics” tomorrow, then geography, then politics. That slope isn’t just a theory; it’s how regulation always grows.
I agree with others here that the real problem is algorithmic social media, not the web itself. An age-gated web doesn’t stop addiction mechanics, dark patterns, or engagement farming; it just moves the blame away from platforms. Kids will find a way around it, adults will get annoyed, and the reasons behind it will stay the same.
distinct areas solely for children? Completely fair. Are there strict rules against infinite scrolling and recommendation systems for kids? Yes, please. But if you need to prove your age to browse, you’ve changed what the web is at its core.
That seems like a worse long-term deal than the problem it’s trying to fix.
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Been thinking about this since the Discord news broke yesterday.
I think websites should be able to age-gate their content if they want, in an ideal scenario. But I don’t agree with the currently technically feasible methods, nor the way it might affect vulnerable kids’ access to information, so it’s a bit of a moot point practically speaking.
(For example, this forum is 18+, and I like that. If I joined a dating website, I’d obviously want that to be 18+. If I wrote something that kids shouldn’t read, I’d want the website I posted it on to be 18+. Etc.)
But instead I gotta decide what’s more important to me; being connected to cool communities through Discord, or not having my privacy violated. They already had one leak related to age verification, and switching third party providers doesn’t make that risk go away.
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Why can’t we just keep the simple age verification pop-ups that I have to click every time I want to order beer online 
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Our current society, in particular with its shift away from local communities towards the nuclear family dynamic (which treats children closer to property of parents than as fully realized individuals), has taken away a lot of agency from children. There’s a child liberation movement that seeks to return a lot of that agency and my partner and I try our best to follow it.
One aspect of today’s anti-child society has been defaulting locations to adult only and carving out only specific areas where children (and thus, adults looking after children) are allowed to exist. I can personally attest to having felt that pressure in public areas for having a kid behaving like a kid as if that were some unacceptable grievance towards those around us. There’s a video essay I really like talking about Why does everyone hate children? and it contrasts that with Ireland, where kids are accepted even in places like pubs.
I think that stigmatization against children has infected a lot of digital spaces online as well. Dr. Devon Price has a series of articles on the child liberation movement, and one of them talks directly to this aspect of it: Interact with Minors. It discusses it’s own journey as a minor on the internet and why it believes public and healthy interaction between minors and adults is beneficial. It’s a very good read and I recommend it. I really like the point that without a reference point of appropriate interactions with adults, it is harder to recognize when an adult is being manipulative. I also liked this section from it’s conclusion:
Thanks to the writing of child liberationists, I understand that a child screaming on the bus is not a sensory assault against me , but a disturbed, powerless little human trapped in a situation that has overwhelmed them. When a younger person doesn’t know how to complete a task or does something that makes me cringe, I try to remember this is their first time on the planet (and it’s mine, too). I know that I do not have a right to not be annoyed, and that freedom does not come from a lack of responsibility towards others . True freedom comes from no longer relying upon authority figures, and having a robust network of support.
That is all to say, I’m strongly against age gates. It is nothing less than segregation of an oppressed minority.
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really love the youth lib perspective on it, as someone whos done a bit of writing on the matter myself ^^ Dr. Devon Price’s work is pretty great, generally speaking; even when I disagree with it I still get a better understanding of whatever I disagree with, so it’s a win win.
I think age-specific spaces aren’t necessarily a bad thing, even from that perspective. As a moderator in this space, I know many people here have encountered issues with teenagers in general being more difficult to moderate; more boundary-testing, less social tact, more black-and-white thinking. Not all are like that, and it’s expected at a certain age, and adults aren’t exempt obviously, but making this an 18+ space was the easiest way to make a more “mature” place with more nuanced discussions. But I also realize that if I was 16 I might have just signed up anyway. We’re not checking IDs at the door here.
I think the surveillance enforced age-gating is the biggest problem. Adults wanting spaces to just talk to adults, children just wanting spaces to talk to children, it’s all well and good (provided it’s not the only place they ever are, lol). I know as a kid on the web I appreciated places like (old) Roblox, Toontown, and Moshi Monsters that let me get away from the Lame, Boring Adults in my life.
Discord wanting to verify people are adults before letting them see NSFW content is a great idea in theory but there is no company or government that I would want to have the power of every user’s PII linked to their online identity.
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Yeah, this. There are places where it’s not safe or appropriate for children to be: the vast majority of public spaces shouldn’t be among them.
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In this hypothetical, impossible world, only if the website in question had a good reason TO be age gated. Age gating should not be the default (though I recognize that’s not what this scenario is proposing; it’s just my requirement), but even then I’m not a fan.
Take porn sites for example: obviously makes sense to be 18+ only.
And sometimes you get forums like these where adults kinda just want a space away from kids.
But it becoming a default… That doesn’t sit right with me. NONE of these are gurentees in the scenario you presented, but it’s perfectly possible for adults and children to never be able to cross paths. It’s perfectly possible for kids to be banned from the internet entirely. I don’t think these are healthy answers to very real problems online, as they have just as many (if not more) negatives to them as well.
And going back to the idea of 18+ content: who is defining that? Are queer children going to be unable to talk about their own experiences in their “child only” spaces because the site owners (or the government the servers reside in) deems that obscene content? What about genuine sex ed, or artistic nudity? Where do certain “sexual but not explicit” stories fall here?
How strictly controlled will these child friendly spaces be? How many things will children be shielded away from in fear of scaring them (or offending their parents)? Children are not good at talking politics, but would they be allowed to try if it remained civil? Or are their parents allowed to control their political views?
In fact, maybe the government and companies may not be able to violate people’s privacy, but how much of a right to privacy would children have from their parents?
A lot of these are not easy questions to answer even NOW, and all of this is rhetorical. I’m not expecting answers to how these things would work in your hypothetical world. It’s more so just to emphasize that an age-gated internet, even with this perfectly impossible technology, is not a good thing. Maybe helpful here and there to say “yo this place is 16+, 18+, 30+, 12 and under, etc.” but as a default formula? No thanks.
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heavily against no ifs and buts. l
internet should be free for all. its no one’s fault lazy parent’s expect the internet to he THE parent.
i am for bringing back kid-friendly specific place. but im against turning it kid-friendly by default unless u provide ID or something. anyone who doesn’t see age gating as anything but dystopian is beyond foolish.
parental controls exist, DNS filtering exists. maybe instead of requiring IDs for anything remotely mature (not even porn necessarily) maybe just teach the parents the damn basis of computer literacy. it feels like the majority of people know jack shit about the tech they rely on.
if people knew how to filter harmful stuff we wouldn’t have those bullshit, kyc-is-expected regulations pushed by boomers who understand the technology even less than the ones that complained about the dangers of the internet.
how did we end up from “be careful what you share” to “maybe age gating is not that bad”? no matter the motives id rather eat literal shit than provide my ID to access random ahh websites
Facebook. Facebook is how.
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