by Cindy Harper, Reclaim The Net:
The pitch is protecting kids from algorithms. The mechanism is a permanent identity checkpoint over the entire internet.
Governments now have a template for policing who gets online, and it arrived dressed as child health advice. French President Emmanuel Macron and World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus published a joint statement on July 1 that recasts social media, gaming, and generative AI as forces acting directly on children’s bodies and minds.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
The two men want mandatory age checks (which means ID checks), mandated platform redesigns, and safety-by-design rules written into law across much of the democratic world.
Their case rests on the idea of an emerging agreement between nations. “these measures reflect a growing global consensus that digital environments require effective governance, age-appropriate design, and stronger safeguards to protect child health,” they wrote, gesturing at the wave of national restrictions now spreading from Canberra to Ottawa.
Consider what age verification actually demands. To confirm that a user is old enough, a platform first has to confirm who that user is. Matching a claimed birthday against a face scan, a credit record, or a government ID converts an ordinary login into an identity checkpoint.
Systems built to keep children out end up cataloging the adults who stay in, since no platform can gauge the age of its teenage users without also weighing the age of everyone else who shows up.
Like most of this ilk, the statement frames this as protection, not surveillance. Macron and Tedros describe digital spaces as determinants of health on par with clean water or safe housing, and they warn that infinite scrolling, autoplay, and push notifications are engineered to hook young users. “Solutions are needed because digital environments are not neutral,” they wrote. The remedy they reach for runs straight through identity.
