<
https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/29/how-and-why-to-fight-back-against-social-media-bans/>
"Several U.S. states are pushing to ban young people from social media
entirely. This marks the latest wave of censorship bills masquerading as
“children’s online safety” measures, with states like Massachusetts, Idaho,
Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois, and EFF’s home state of
California leading the charge.
Just a few years ago, lawmakers supporting age-gating laws insisted their
efforts were narrowly targeted at limiting young people’s access to adult
content. At the time, we warned that they would not stop there: once the
government established the authority and built the infrastructure to collect
and “verify” massive troves of user data, it would inevitably sweep broader and
broader categories of lawful speech into this mass surveillance and censorship
system.
Unfortunately, our predictions came true. As legislators across the country
advance proposals that would block all young people from accessing the “modern
public square,” the Overton window has shifted dramatically towards mass
censorship—and the speed of this shift should concern all of us.
This primer breaks down this dangerous wave of social media bans: how they work
(and why they don’t), who they harm, and how we can fight back."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
