Is a Ban a Plan?

A 21page "report brings together the perspectives of seven leading experts from fields including children's rights, psychology, computer science, cryptography, and family advocacy... reach a remarkably consistent conclusion: the harms children face online are real, but blanket social media bans fail to address their underlying causes."

Instead, they'd like to see "stronger platform accountability, safer design, better enforcement of existing regulation, and policies grounded in children's rights".

There's "No evidence exists that blanket bans improve children's wellbeing", while they "reassures adults without making children safer in practice; restricted risks simply shift into less regulated, less visible spaces". Age verification is flawed - either easy to circumvent, or dangerous to privacy while excluding people, so "children ... become harder, not easier, to protect".

The problem is the platforms: their design choices, driven by their business model, and weak moderation (because expensive).

Moreover, in Europe we have the rules: "What Is Missing Is Enforcement". Moreover, if we can't enforce the DSA and GDPR, what makes us think we'll be able to enforce a ban?

Finally, did we just forget that kids have rights?