4 ms·

I'd love to know which funds/wealthy individuals are bankrolling this rush of age verification mandates. It's certainly not a grass roots phenomenon.

siliconc0w 6mo ago
Yeah it does seem to be a new 'thing'. I'm betting it's like the heritage foundation who figured out age-restrictions give them a new end-run around the first amendment. Started with porn (because who is going to defend porn) and now they're going to slide down the slippery slope.
- declan_roberts 6mo ago
  Heritage foundation? Lol give me a break.
  - nobody9999 6mo ago
    From Project 2025[0], published by the Heritage Foundation: Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. [0] https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeade...
    - declan_roberts 6mo ago
      Check out https://agelesslinux.org/lobbyists.html https://agelesslinux.org/lobbyists.html They're specially trying to get people to believe this is a right wing thing. Effective strategy as we can see by the comments. > This matters because it preempts the easiest dismissal: that age verification mandates are a right-wing culture war project. They are not.
      - nobody9999 6mo ago
        Are you claiming that Project 2025[0] isn't a right wing thing? If, by you, the Heritage Foundation isn't right wing then what would be? That's not a rhetorical question. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
      - nobody9999 6mo ago
        Interestingly, I saw this linked to on Mastodon just now and immediately thought of you. Check it[0] out. I think you'll find it illuminating. [0] https://www.techdirt.com/2026/04/16/the-right-wing-origins-age-verification-laws-dont-disappear-just-because-theyre-going-bipartisan/ https://www.techdirt.com/2026/04/16/the-right-wing-origins-a...
groovypuppy 6mo ago
Meta
RobertoG 6mo ago
Also, it's not only in the USA. In Europe too, all at the same time. Don't worry though, it's just conspiracy theory that those things are related.
miohtama 6mo ago
Here is a glimpse https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47530718 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47530718 Here is some more breakdown https://x.com/moo9000/status/2037184457069760717?s=20 https://x.com/moo9000/status/2037184457069760717?s=20
- carefree-bob 6mo ago
  Thank you, that's informative. Interpol? Orwellian stuff.
  - cromka 6mo ago
    Interpol would be legitimately for child porn prevention reasons here, actually.
    - Nasrudith 6mo ago
      Doesn't matter - police don't get to decide the fucking laws. That is separation of powers 101 for places which aren't shitholes.
Aurornis 6mo ago
Don't underestimate the grassroots popularity of these measures. Look at any Hacker News thread regarding age verification and you will find a lot of comments coming out in support of age verification. Most of them are assuming that age verification is something that will only apply to sites they don't use like Facebook. There are a couple parallel moral panics intersecting on this topic. Again even on HN you'll find people parroting dodgy statistics about child trafficking on social media, proclaiming that short form video is equivalent to highly addictive drugs, or making sweeping claims that under-18s should be banned from having smart phones. It's apparent none of them ever considered that the age restrictions they've been inviting might apply to something they use. It's always assumed to apply only to the kids on the TikTok or something.

siliconc0w 6mo ago

Yeah it does seem to be a new 'thing'. I'm betting it's like the heritage foundation who figured out age-restrictions give them a new end-run around the first amendment. Started with porn (because who is going to defend porn) and now they're going to slide down the slippery slope.

declan_roberts 6mo ago
Heritage foundation? Lol give me a break.
- nobody9999 6mo ago
  From Project 2025[0], published by the Heritage Foundation: Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. [0] https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeade...
  - declan_roberts 6mo ago
    Check out https://agelesslinux.org/lobbyists.html https://agelesslinux.org/lobbyists.html They're specially trying to get people to believe this is a right wing thing. Effective strategy as we can see by the comments. > This matters because it preempts the easiest dismissal: that age verification mandates are a right-wing culture war project. They are not.
    - nobody9999 6mo ago
      Are you claiming that Project 2025[0] isn't a right wing thing? If, by you, the Heritage Foundation isn't right wing then what would be? That's not a rhetorical question. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
    - nobody9999 6mo ago
      Interestingly, I saw this linked to on Mastodon just now and immediately thought of you. Check it[0] out. I think you'll find it illuminating. [0] https://www.techdirt.com/2026/04/16/the-right-wing-origins-age-verification-laws-dont-disappear-just-because-theyre-going-bipartisan/ https://www.techdirt.com/2026/04/16/the-right-wing-origins-a...

groovypuppy 6mo ago

Meta

RobertoG 6mo ago

Also, it's not only in the USA. In Europe too, all at the same time. Don't worry though, it's just conspiracy theory that those things are related.

miohtama 6mo ago

Here is a glimpse https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47530718 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47530718 Here is some more breakdown https://x.com/moo9000/status/2037184457069760717?s=20 https://x.com/moo9000/status/2037184457069760717?s=20

carefree-bob 6mo ago
Thank you, that's informative. Interpol? Orwellian stuff.
- cromka 6mo ago
  Interpol would be legitimately for child porn prevention reasons here, actually.
  - Nasrudith 6mo ago
    Doesn't matter - police don't get to decide the fucking laws. That is separation of powers 101 for places which aren't shitholes.

Aurornis 6mo ago

Don't underestimate the grassroots popularity of these measures. Look at any Hacker News thread regarding age verification and you will find a lot of comments coming out in support of age verification. Most of them are assuming that age verification is something that will only apply to sites they don't use like Facebook. There are a couple parallel moral panics intersecting on this topic. Again even on HN you'll find people parroting dodgy statistics about child trafficking on social media, proclaiming that short form video is equivalent to highly addictive drugs, or making sweeping claims that under-18s should be banned from having smart phones. It's apparent none of them ever considered that the age restrictions they've been inviting might apply to something they use. It's always assumed to apply only to the kids on the TikTok or something.