In my opinion, there is no freedom if the public space for discussion is in the hands of four billionaires with very similar interests. But let’s go point by point:
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The impact of this measure is going to be strong because teenagers, right now, have no idea what a VPN is or how to use it. Some will look for ways to bypass this measure and will succeed. And certainly they will expose themselves to the sale of their data. But they were already previously exposed to this when using those services.
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The economy will surely suffer, no doubt. But not everything is about the economy. And the mental health of children and adolescents is more important.
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Banning something doesn’t stop it but it greatly reduces its consumption. Besides, are we going to defend the commercialization of drugs when it’s something negative? By the way, their prohibition would also “hurt the economy.” Furthermore, in the same way that tobacco, alcohol, and gambling cannot be advertised, we should also regulate these supposedly “free” spaces.
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Without a doubt. The politicians we have in Europe are incompetent and hypocritical.
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The situation you have in France is, unfortunately, very similar to what we have in Spain. But if we go to the root of the problem, what is it? Who foments these hate speeches? Until now I’ve only responded with subjective opinions but let me give you a fact: fascism is driven by big corporations when they feel their power is in danger. It happened with previous fascist regimes and it’s happening now in the USA and Europe. And what’s happening in Europe, in part, is being driven by tech oligarchs who promote these types of discourses and control the public space of political discussion. As an example, we can see Musk giving conferences and supporting the German far-right.
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Regarding the parents issue, I don’t want to go on as much as in another thread . To summarize: individual responsibility exists, without a doubt. But from a realistic political point of view, let’s stop trying to wish that people were different and pay attention to the structural problems that our socioeconomic system presents. The easy way out is to point to parents (with some reason), the difficult one is to point to poverty, long working hours, job insecurity, the double shift that some women suffer, deteriorating mental health, poor nutrition, pollution, the price of electricity, poor public transportation in large cities, etc.
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To finish I’d like to say the following: I don’t like this measure, but I believe it’s the lesser evil. I don’t mean to say that I’m right, but the damage that social media causes with these owners who seem to ignore the laws of other countries is something I’m seeing in high schools. Teachers have to attend to many children and adolescents who, let’s say, try to hurt themselves a lot when they separate from their parents. It’s an absolute epidemic: of mental health and addiction. Moreover, the fundamental freedom you spoke of at the beginning, and which has been talked about so much throughout history (freedom of expression, of thought, of the press), is fundamentally flawed. Content recommended by an algorithm designed to ideologically direct a tired and discontented population, as well as to make them addicted and consumers, implies that 1) the product being sold on social media is not freedom of expression or thought, but rather it’s the magnates themselves who sell the “idea-filled” heads of users to the interests of the owners and investors of the moment and 2) the interests, tendencies and desires that are constructed and directed to create imaginary needs so that “the economy” keeps spinning endlessly at an increasingly dizzying speed. Finally, I’d like to mention that, in Spain for example, none of the largest newspapers are profitable: they survive on public subsidies and private investments that determine (not just “condition”) freedom of the press. We can ask ourselves the same thing about Twitter and TikTok. Are they profitable? What interests are there in maintaining business models that apparently aren’t as profitable as they seem? Both platforms racked their brains trying to insert ads much more effectively but they’re not able to because of the immediacy involved in using these platforms.
I wish for social media where discussion isn’t directed, with regulated algorithms. I’m afraid that for this we would have to expropriate these immense whales but here I’m already venturing into my utopian dreams.