So it begins
Reddit has begun rolling out mandatory age verification for any NSFW content, as well as for some social media functions, if the AI determines you might be under a certain age.
Another good day to be on Lemmy... until the surveillance capitalist tech overlords lobby enough to get their great firewall of the West, anyway.
Further reading:
- support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-u…
- cybernews.com/security/eu-age-…
- piunikaweb.com/2026/02/19/pers…
- support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-u…
Persona age verification under fire after researchers expose alleged biometrics surveillance setup
Persona, used by Roblox, Discord, and Reddit for age checks, is under fire after researchers exposed what they call a sweeping identity surveillance setup.Dwayne Cubbins (PiunikaWeb)
moshankey
in reply to tired_fedora • • •tired_fedora
in reply to moshankey • • •Still sharing my sadness about seeing "the old internet" slip further and further down that slope.
myrmidex
in reply to tired_fedora • • •tired_fedora
in reply to myrmidex • • •myrmidex
in reply to tired_fedora • • •huey_m
in reply to myrmidex • • •ell1e
in reply to moshankey • • •ell1e coding things (@ell1e@hachyderm.io)
ell1e coding things (Hachyderm.io)marxismtomorrow
in reply to ell1e • • •Or, instances can just choose to ignore it. Just host your instance outside the EU. Congrats. You win. Like yeah feddit.org and other imperial core™ instances will likely just shut down but most of lemmy will be absolutely fine.
Worst case scenario host it outside the EU and VPN to a neutral country and you'll be fine.
ell1e
in reply to marxismtomorrow • • •Tell Congress: Don’t Force Age Checks Online
act.eff.orgcharles
in reply to ell1e • • •FineCoatMummy
in reply to charles • • •There are.
But if you get the US, EU and China all requiring ID verification... plus other authoritarian leaning countries like the Saudis and w/e. The odds that like, IDK... Bahamas or Iceland gonna hold the line on this are... long.
Prob not even Canada has the throw weight to do it in the long run. Love you frozen northerners, I got your back in every way I can in this effed up world, but Canada just doesn't punch in the weight class of the EU, US, and China. Editing: I forgot Canada has Bill C-34, a similar bill to what US and EU are floating.
It's so, so important for ID reqs not to pass at the national level in the US. There are strange bedfellows tho. It has bipartisan support AND bipartisan opposition. It could also face major 1A challenges here. Time will tell.
charles
in reply to FineCoatMummy • • •I don't disagree that for most people, this will result in significantly less anonymity on the web and overall is a very dangerous trend.
However, that doesn't mean that there won't still be some countries that do not have such laws and that don't answer to US/EU regulatory attempts. That's already how many quasi-illegal (or even straight up illegal) websites that operate in such countries (such as circumventing DMCA requests), and these laws are highly unlikely to entirely prevent those from continuing to find safe haven countries.
FineCoatMummy
in reply to charles • • •Yah I do agree there will keep being those quasi gray area legal sites.
But even so, most ppl will live with the ID reqs, since they won't go to the gray sites. Esp if the heavy hitters like US/EU go down the China road of hardcore clamping down on VPNs. In China today, some ppl get around that. It's just very risky, so most ppl give up and use what the gov wants them to. I'm afraid we could eventually see a similar story in the US and EU. Also I forgot that Canada has a bill pending too, Bill C-34, the "Safe Social Media Act".
IDK how the US bill will go. I am trying to remain hopeful. It sounds like it passed the House, but could be DOA in the Senate. And even if it passes the Senate, it'll be hit with 1A lawsuits and go before SCOTUS. We can't count our chickens yet or let off the pressure, but it has hurdles to clear before it becomes law of the land.
djsoren19
in reply to marxismtomorrow • • •bingo.
there have always been countries willing to host content outside the prying eyes of the West. There shouldn't really be any expectation of that changing.
Hell, if things get really desperate, we can all pitch in for a boat and host via satellite out of international waters. I think PirateBay did something similar for years.
FineCoatMummy
in reply to moshankey • • •Yah. We do. For now. Mostly b/c it's flying under the radar.
Long run, I think Lemmy cannot escape enshittification. Bots, politicians, lots of drivers.
Not having outrage amplifying algos helps Lemmy. But that's like 1 driver of enshittitification. There are many other sources that will try to shit on the cookies.
I believe Lemmy is more resistant than reddit or w/e. But it won't be enough. Esp if it becomes very popular.
traingovroom[He/Him]
in reply to FineCoatMummy • • •Lemmy development being principally led by explicit communists should help a lot too. I do imagine that instances more aligned with the western spy states will have issues eventually, but hopefully their users will migrate to less censored places over time.
Now if the full western firewall gets created that's gonna be rough for users. I don't envy VPNs who are actually privacy-focused trying to breach that.
bowreality
in reply to tired_fedora • • •dracc
in reply to bowreality • • •I read somewhere recently that old reddit will require you to be signed in. 🫤
Edit: found it.
Reddit will require you to log in to use old.reddit.com
Scharon Harding (Ars Technica)Icedrous
in reply to dracc • • •The website includes a quote from a Reddit employee:
I didn’t realize casually browsing a website is “abusive scraping”. Isn’t that the equivalent of claiming that reading a news article online is “abusive scraping”?
iamthetot
in reply to Icedrous • • •Icedrous
in reply to iamthetot • • •bowreality
in reply to dracc • • •FineCoatMummy
in reply to dracc • • •Read-only use of old reddit was the only way I use it. There are actualyl some good resources for niche topics. You can search, like how do I disassemble my electric toothbrush to replace the battery the mfg sealed into the unit. Somebody prob posted about it. Or weird game trivia. W/e.
Read only searching was the best remaining use for reddit. Which will now die.
bowreality
in reply to FineCoatMummy • • •heppen
in reply to tired_fedora • • •strawberry_enjoyer42
in reply to tired_fedora • • •ell1e
in reply to strawberry_enjoyer42 • • •If you're in the EU, it might come sooner than you think: leminal.space/post/37117472
ell1e
2026-07-01 10:39:40
If you're in the EU, it might come sooner than you think: leminal.space/post/37117472
ell1e
2026-07-01 10:39:40
strawberry_enjoyer42
in reply to ell1e • • •ell1e
in reply to strawberry_enjoyer42 • • •Regarding Switzerland: privately.eu/post/swiss-safety…
I think the only way we're getting out of this is if people start protesting to their representatives way louder and in way greater numbers.
For anybody reading in the EU, consider emailing one of your representatives and demand they undo this age verification surveillance stuff: fightchatcontrol.eu/#delegates (Site is unrelated, it just happens to have a list of representatives.)
For anybody in the US, find your representatives here: senate.gov/senators/senators-c…
Switzerland Debates Age Verification as Privacy-First Estimation Scales | Privately SA
www.privately.eustrawberry_enjoyer42
in reply to ell1e • • •Will they even listen to us?
Hmm. They will. They'll listen through all of our internet-enabled devices with microphones.
I feel very hopeless about this.
ell1e
in reply to strawberry_enjoyer42 • • •FineCoatMummy
in reply to ell1e • • •I agree that is our best hope.
There is not a long term tech solution for a political problem. Best we can do is kick the can down the road. This has to be solved politically.
flandish
in reply to tired_fedora • • •Casuls_Die_Thrice
in reply to tired_fedora • • •ell1e
in reply to Casuls_Die_Thrice • • •Tell Congress: Don’t Force Age Checks Online
act.eff.orgrobotElder2 [he/him]
in reply to ell1e • • •ell1e
in reply to robotElder2 [he/him] • • •Fight Chat Control - Protect Digital Privacy in the EU
fightchatcontrol.euZephorah
in reply to tired_fedora • • •gecko
in reply to tired_fedora • • •tired_fedora
in reply to gecko • • •gecko
in reply to tired_fedora • • •Ex Nummis
in reply to gecko • • •ell1e
in reply to tired_fedora • • •There are many who think there's no sufficiently secure, risk-free way to do that verification.
See this write-up about the EU wallet: gitlab.opencode.de/bmi/eudi-wa…
Or Cory Doctorow on Age Verification of any kind: pluralistic.net/2025/08/14/bel…
We're repeating German history, apparently (#13) · Issues · BMI / EUDI-Wallet / Wallet Development Documentation - public · GitLab
GitLabHawk
in reply to gecko • • •ell1e
in reply to Hawk • • •As far as I can tell, it's not Reddit's fault: leminal.space/post/37117472 But I could be wrong. Read the details for yourself, and if you don't like it then consider contacting your representative to complain (this isn't ChatControl related but they have a useful contact list).
ell1e
As far as I can tell, it's not Reddit's fault: leminal.space/post/37117472 But I could be wrong. Read the details for yourself, and if you don't like it then consider contacting your representative to complain (this isn't ChatControl related but they have a useful contact list).
ell1e
2026-07-01 10:39:40
lemmyvore
in reply to Hawk • • •LinkedIn (Microsoft) has also been slowly introducing identity verification, and they're also using Persona.
Persona has also been used for several years now by American companies hiring EU citizens, to verify their job history and background.
I'm betting that Persona "forgetting" your information is bullshit, and whenever you use them they add more of your info to your profile. They'd have your job history, your LinkedIn activity, your Reddit activity etc.
pomodoro
in reply to Hawk • • •belated_frog_pants
in reply to tired_fedora • • •electric_nan
in reply to tired_fedora • • •FineCoatMummy
in reply to electric_nan • • •Me -> NAL. So I'm only guessing.
One prob might be that fingerprinting IDs a device. There could be a 70 yo and a 7 yo using the same dev in the same house. It prob wouldn't stand up in court when Little Billy, 7, became a victim because Grandpa Wilson, 70, used the same device. Or the old dev fingerprint gets used with a new account. They let the account in b/c they know the fingerprint. But they never knew the dev was sold to a new owner who is 15.
Fingerprinting is way more powerful than most ppl realize. But it does have limits. If the EU, or the US, comes at them, they need something straighforward and easy to explain to a jury. If Little Billy forged a photo ID, that's a solid defense for the co. But if they screw up with hard to explain statistical methods, they have more legal risk.
electric_nan
in reply to FineCoatMummy • • •FoundFootFootage78
in reply to tired_fedora • • •makeshift0546
in reply to tired_fedora • • •It's amazing you think you're immune to this 🤣 or think the admins are going to go to jail protecting identites.
The second any instance hits enough users to draw attention they'll crumble faster than a quarter miles top fuel dragster.
pineapple
in reply to makeshift0546 • • •makeshift0546
in reply to pineapple • • •pineapple
in reply to makeshift0546 • • •makeshift0546
in reply to pineapple • • •pineapple
in reply to makeshift0546 • • •What are you even trying to say? Can you please remove your sarcasm and make an argument I can understand?
People could create overseas instances that dont have age restriction. Stop being so righteous and sarcastic and actually engage in a conversation.
makeshift0546
in reply to pineapple • • •TORFdot0
in reply to makeshift0546 • • •makeshift0546
in reply to TORFdot0 • • •ell1e
in reply to makeshift0546 • • •As far as I can tell, you seem to be right and this seems to be a EU thing: leminal.space/post/37117472 (Sorry for just redirecting to another post, but the topic is relatively complex and I did a write-up over there.)
ell1e
2026-07-01 10:39:40
As far as I can tell, you seem to be right and this seems to be a EU thing: leminal.space/post/37117472 (Sorry for just redirecting to another post, but the topic is relatively complex and I did a write-up over there.)
ell1e
2026-07-01 10:39:40
tired_fedora
in reply to makeshift0546 • • •WorldsDumbestMan
in reply to tired_fedora • • •Actually good. Now people don't have to worry if some minor is pretending to be an adult on their NSFW subs.
On the other hand, adults getting ID'd for Palantir purposes sucks.
SoyViking [he/him]
in reply to WorldsDumbestMan • • •What do you mean? Handing over a detailed registry og millions of people's political opinions, sexual preferences and medical histories to a fascist oligarch with a creepy Messiah complex is a small price to pay to make it harder for 16 year olds to look at titties.
LiamBox
in reply to WorldsDumbestMan • • •ell1e
in reply to LiamBox • • •Pluralistic: “Privacy preserving age verification” is bullshit (14 Aug 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.netpineapple
in reply to WorldsDumbestMan • • •TORFdot0
in reply to WorldsDumbestMan • • •Graphiar
in reply to tired_fedora • • •The thing that pisses me off is that, on paper I’m not against it. It’s the way they do it and collectively fuck over everyone else that irritates me. I’m not giving my ID out. Fuck off.
And PSA: Getting access to a VPN is ridiculously easy nowadays. I got around my Dads router restrictions when I was a teenager. VPNs are easier than that. You’re not doing anything to protect children. They’ll find a way.
SupremeDonut
in reply to Graphiar • • •FineCoatMummy
in reply to SupremeDonut • • •It often shadowbans for that, so you can still log in and read, but if you post, only YOU can see your post. Nobody else can see your post. It gives you the illusion that you posted.
One of the ways ppl knew if they were shadowbanned, was to open the post in a private window. But that will be harder now. The priate window won't be logged in, so you won't be able to look. And ofc if you log in, you'll see it, b/c that's what shadowban does. The only way will be to use an alt account to look.
The enshittification continues.
syaochan
in reply to FineCoatMummy • • •ell1e
in reply to Graphiar • • •Perhaps you should be, since there doesn't seem to be a non-dystopian way to do age checks on the internet at a large scale (as in, for more than e.g. sites dedicated for porn, and other very narrow examples). See Cory Doctorow write about Age Verification of any kind: pluralistic.net/2025/08/14/bel… Or look at this EU wallet writeup: gitlab.opencode.de/bmi/eudi-wa…
We're repeating German history, apparently (#13) · Issues · BMI / EUDI-Wallet / Wallet Development Documentation - public · GitLab
GitLabiglou
in reply to ell1e • • •That's not entirely true. It's only impossible without governments working toward it.
We have plenty of tech options to develop a secure way to have a government-issued digital ID that is able to only share selected information, like your age. But that has to come from governments, not companies needing to verify your age.
The best part is that it can be private, as in: The government doesn't need to know who requested your age, and the website doesn't need to know anything else than your age and which government is confirming it.
And the tech required isn't even necessarily new or recent.
ell1e
in reply to iglou • • •tired_fedora
in reply to Graphiar • • •osanna
in reply to Graphiar • • •fuck giving your GOVERNMENT ID to a private fucking company. Holy shit, is this 1984 or what?
Although I didn't use it often, I would use facebook, mostly to look at my special interests. Not really to chat with people or whatever. Anyway, when my country brought in ID for social media, I just haven't been back. I'm not giving my FUCKING GOVERNMENT ID TO A FUCKING PRIVATE SPYWARE COMPANY. Fucking hell.
MithranArkanere
in reply to osanna • • •Graphiar
in reply to MithranArkanere • • •I would definitely feel much more comfortable if it was through the government directly but even then for some reason parents don’t want to accept they have to actually….parent, and monitor their children in this day and age. So they want the government/corpo to do it for them. It’s fucking pathetic.
Apple literally introduced a massive update to parental controls in iOS 27. It’s insanely easy and you have so much control. I plan on doing that with my own son. I’m not gonna give out my ID to these random ass websites because people wanna be lazy shitheads.
MithranArkanere
in reply to Graphiar • • •Ryo Succubus
in reply to tired_fedora • • •public_image_ltd
in reply to tired_fedora • • •Could not care less. Left this cesspool when the api price thing happened, replaced my posts with gibberish and moved on to lemmy.
When I want a recipe for a pizza with glue un the cheese I just let a fuckin ai crawl this pile of shit.
TBi
in reply to tired_fedora • • •Reddit wants me to reset my password or my account is locked.
So. I’m locked.
But I don’t use it any more so not really bothered.
The Bard in Green
in reply to tired_fedora • • •tl;dr: screw reddit. Good bye forever (again).
I had to go back to reddit about a year ago to promote local mutual aid organizations and protest groups. I had turned my "since 2008" account into nothing but over the top abuse aimed at u/spez and vulture capitalism during the RiF debacle. I made a new account and engaged a little bit. I commented now and then, because you have to have minimal amounts of activity to post on some of the local subreddits.
Two days ago, I got flagged by automoderator for mocking a conservative on r/politics. I apparently had like 8 hours to tell the mods I was sorry, but I had no idea I'd been flagged, because I hardly go on reddit so I didn't know. They gave me a three month ban and when I messaged them to be like "why was I banned?" because it didn't make sense to me... I hadn't done anything that objectionable, a mod very condescendingly told me "You had 8 hours to respond to the complaint, but didn't avail yourself of the opportunity. You may protest the ban in 3 months." I seriously messaged them back with "enjoy your enshittification
... Show more...tl;dr: screw reddit. Good bye forever (again).
I had to go back to reddit about a year ago to promote local mutual aid organizations and protest groups. I had turned my "since 2008" account into nothing but over the top abuse aimed at u/spez and vulture capitalism during the RiF debacle. I made a new account and engaged a little bit. I commented now and then, because you have to have minimal amounts of activity to post on some of the local subreddits.
Two days ago, I got flagged by automoderator for mocking a conservative on r/politics. I apparently had like 8 hours to tell the mods I was sorry, but I had no idea I'd been flagged, because I hardly go on reddit so I didn't know. They gave me a three month ban and when I messaged them to be like "why was I banned?" because it didn't make sense to me... I hadn't done anything that objectionable, a mod very condescendingly told me "You had 8 hours to respond to the complaint, but didn't avail yourself of the opportunity. You may protest the ban in 3 months." I seriously messaged them back with "enjoy your enshittification train to corporate town."
mcv
in reply to The Bard in Green • • •incompetent
in reply to mcv • • •Hopefully.
sexy_peach
in reply to tired_fedora • • •tixooo
in reply to sexy_peach • • •sexy_peach
in reply to tixooo • • •tixooo
in reply to sexy_peach • • •wewbull
in reply to tixooo • • •tixooo
in reply to wewbull • • •TranquilTurbulence
in reply to tixooo • • •utopiah
in reply to tired_fedora • • •Indeed and to "celebrate" this I deleted the 5 accounts I had (was project related) still.
I already deleted my main years ago but those ones were just unused for 10 years. Good time to signal (if anybody cares checking through usage data) that I'm not supporting this.
CasuallyCabbage
in reply to tired_fedora • • •Nangijala
in reply to CasuallyCabbage • • •Mereo
in reply to CasuallyCabbage • • •AmonTheMetalHead
in reply to tired_fedora • • •mrnngglry
in reply to tired_fedora • • •BrilliantBadger
in reply to mrnngglry • • •prole
in reply to mrnngglry • • •FYI, you didn't actually really delete any comments, they still have them and will often even restore them when accounts do mass deletions.
Those comments are theirs now.
mrnngglry
in reply to prole • • •Yeah it’s impossible to really remove much of anything from the internet. They’re welcome to restore them. It took no effort on my part. I used a browser extension. When it was done, I deleted my account. Most of the comments were just answering Linux questions or commenting on music and guitar posts.
I don’t even click search results from Reddit. When they started turning over info on users who had negative things to say about ICE, they lost me for good.
jmp242
in reply to mrnngglry • • •mrnngglry
in reply to jmp242 • • •Reddit, Meta, and Google Voluntarily Gave DHS Info of Anti-ICE Users, Report Says
Mike Pearl (Gizmodo)MilkMeatSoup
in reply to tired_fedora • • •Sasquatch
in reply to MilkMeatSoup • • •ms.lane
in reply to MilkMeatSoup • • •MilkMeatSoup
in reply to ms.lane • • •prole
in reply to tired_fedora • • •Wow can't wait for the influx of 12-17 year olds on Lemmy.
Some really valuable perspective... They can tell us when it's curtains for Zoosha