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    Ireland will "go it alone" if no EU deal on social media ban
    Ireland

    Ireland will “go it alone” if no EU deal on social media ban

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    29 Comments

    1. Meldanorama on

      Just ban it entirely, dont worry about the age stuff or the ids that would need.

    2. AsanteSane on

      Can we regulate it for over 65 too, they take everything they read as gospel on Social Media

    3. Spiritual_Lawyer_470 on

      Why are we giving children smartphones? Is that not also the issue.

    4. hype_irion on

      Ban them for those under 15 and over 65 and we might even be able to save our societies and democratic institutions in the end!

    5. SexyBaskingShark on

      Hopefully in future years people will look at social media the same we look at smokers. People will understand how harmful it is and be shocked kids were allowed to use it

    7. snazzydesign on

      I’d be more concerned about the algorithms – how engagement works and what it pushes – it’s essentially brainwashing people through repetition, and rewards controversial content

    8. YoIronFistBro on

      “Go at it alone”, AKA do the bare minimum of at least not forcing other countries to do the same bullshit that you insist on doing in your own.

      Why do so many proponents of this shit insist on that in the first place anyway? Is (further) ruining the lives of neurodivergent and LGBT+ teens in their _own_ country not enough?

    9. blood_transfusion on

      Unless they build up communities i,e more parks, libraries (not just in the town/city centre), and after school programs. Banning social media without another outlet for youth is going to be a terrible stupid boomer driven idea.

    11. Intelligent-Aside214 on

      I think we need serious restrictions on algorithms.

      No targeting children, no targeting political views, no targeting social class etc. or alternative ban targeted advertising entirely if that’s too difficult to restrict

    12. NoBookkeeper6864 on

      Just make it illegal for parents to by their kids phones until the age of 17, it’s pretty simple

    14. yewEngine on

      Putting stricter controls on social media as FF/G are sliding in popularity, driven by social media. If anything it’s a counter balance to the state funded RTE.

    15. Nadirin on

      Social media is the cigarette of the 21st century. But much harder to solve. 

    17. yoyoyayawey on

      Big words while Ireland is enjoying tax profits from revenues in the continent.

    18. polytect on

      Yes, just bring digital ID like in China, social credit scoring, the great firewall. Use AI to model behaviour patterns for everyone under children safety act, send warning letters for anyone who diverge from the mean. Introduce AI Sentiment Analysis gateways, integrated with Digital ID and punish, block everyone who doesn’t fit.

      Lights off.

    19. verbiwhore on

      All these age-restricting laws are missing the point. The issue is not that social media exists, it’s that the people running the social media companies care more about “engagement” and “time spent on platform” than anything else. Proper content moderation, scanning to detect and remove CSAM, and work against dis/misinformation all cost money, and cut into the kind of ragebait content a lot of these companies and their algorithms thrive on.

      Governments restricting access for kids makes it even easier for the techbros to handwave away any concerns about child safety because “children aren’t allowed access” when we all know kids will find workarounds. We’ve already seen them do it. Age-verification is not a solution. Forcing companies to take moderation seriously could be, but with many companies being US based and Trump seeing moderation as “censorship” that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

    21. CaughtHerEyez on

      These people are still trying to hide behind “ooh protect the kids, sure there’s nothing else behind this, just trust us it’s for the kids, your privacy is safe”.

      Then they turn around and violate our privacy by forcing everyone to connect everything to whatever god awful system they’re going to put in the place. One password on post-it note, one greased palm, and suddenly you have the worst data breach in recent history. These politicians need to sit down with actual Cybersec POIs and stop running their mouths on topics they understand nothing about.

    22. Lossagh on

      Great, a speed run into complete online surveillance of the adult population under the guise of “protect the children”.

      The legality of the biometric database associated with MyGovID was already called out as legally questionable, by the DPC, and now we’re going to force it’s use against engaging with any service that requires an online form, or account. How are people just blindly going along with this!!!

      If people gave any shits about children, they’d be going after the social media companies, and the algorithms that are the issue.

    25. gormislofa on

      I mean I don’t think the internet as a whole should be restricted, but I also feel like algorithm-based social media is bad for all of us. Bring back forums and we’ll be onto something

    26. Peazel7 on

      Funny how the government will go it alone for this topic but not others without EU alignment.

      *Cough cough* …..sanctions on genocide

    27. CAPITALISM_FAN_1980 on

      Platforms that optimise for engagement are always going to promote content that provokes outrage and distorts people’s sense of reality. That’s the problem, not the age of the people who are being exposed to this shit.

      Banning young people completely misses the point. Adults are as succeptable to it as young people, and as anyone who’s parents have gone down a rabbit hole can attest, can just as easily have their lives destroyed by it.

      We need laws regulalting how these platforms surface their content, not just banning certain segments of society from using them.

    28. Pale_Piano948 on

      It stops nothing with the poisoning of society with adults consuming mass inflammatory content

    29. 21stCenturyVole on

      Everyone knows at this stage that it’s about permanently ending online anonymity, and attacking anonymous discussion.

      If you don’t fight to stop your liberties being stripped away, then you’ll see democracy disappear pretty quickly.