Once you realize it’s not “age verification”, but actually “identity verification”, then it’s easy to understand that the real goal is “papers, please” for the entire internet.

@mhoye Unpopular opinion:

Identity verification isn't so unattractive in 2026 — social media is destroying democracies via anonymous armies of bot people steered by aggressive foreign actors like Putin and Musk.

The libertarian model that the Internet was built on is failing societies.

@txtx some people will accounts there are, and so are people with accounts in other places, because social media it's not just those places, and because the requeriments for id verification are way broader than social media.

@dalias @mhoye

@txtx @mhoye you dont need identity verification to combat bots, proof of human is enough

@europlus @brouhaha @mhoye - with the proposed US visa / visa-waiver requirements, any of these would invalidate your "immigration status" as a visitor, putting you at real risk of indefinite incarceration at an ICE concentration camp.

@txtx @mhoye Rightfully unpopular. This is not a libertarian position but an anarchist and antifascist one. It's not Ayn Rand bros who are harmed by needing to show ID to participate in public life. It's queer youth, undocumented folks, unhoused folks, dissidents, ppl living under regimes that don't want them having international contacts, etc. who this shit harms.

Once you realize it’s not “age verification”, but actually “identity verification”, then it’s easy to understand that the real goal is “papers, please” for the entire internet.

@txtx @mhoye

Where they go, we go. If you want to know what Mickey Mouse is up to, rather than just hate him and want to avoid him, Disneyland is the place to be.

(I don't monitor twitter though, it's just a garbage hellsite, and most of the real fash are elsewhere. British hard fash mostly use Telegram, soft fash mostly use Whatsapp, and it's worth monitoring both.)

@DiogoConstantino

I don't agree with the premise that there is no possibility for a solution that takes various factors into consideration.

@dalias @mhoye

@txtx that's like telling us to nerd harder.

@dalias @mhoye

@mhoye
Your papers are not in order.

@DiogoConstantino So? What's wrong with trying harder? Is laziness an excuse?

I want more fellow tech people to step away from the libertarian ideals of the current Internet, and start coming up with ways to help save democracy from aggressive states and their disinformation campaigns.

@dalias @mhoye

@mhoye
I'm not sure I completely agree. If you use a bank account as proof of age, the service provider should only receive a yes/no, and no other details whatsoever. There's no way I'd use facial recognition or age estimation, but other techniques (which may seem to be more risky at first sight, such as via your bank) may be pretty safe.

Once you realize it’s not “age verification”, but actually “identity verification”, then it’s easy to understand that the real goal is “papers, please” for the entire internet.

@txtx nerding harder is not working harder, is what people who don't understand tech, tell to nerds to implement their magical thinking.

@dalias @mhoye

@passenger I seriously question if following around fascists/racists has done any good for society in the last decade or so.

On the contrary it seems like a bad addiction, and it's only getting worse because we're just injecting more of it into our daily lives. Why do we need to listen to them? Are we their lackeys?

@mhoye

@txtx @mhoye

We listen to them so we know what they're up to and can oppose it.

To give an example the media knows about: in early 2023 there was a group of fascists who intended on storming a Drag Queen Story Hour in South London. When the fascists arrived they found that we were there ahead of time and we had big sticks.

Bonk.

If we weren't in their chats monitoring their planning, how would we have been able to bonk?

@passenger So you had criminals using their real names on social media to publicly organize violent criminal activities?

Do you have a source for this?

@passenger So you had criminals using their real names on social media to publicly organize violent criminal activities?

Do you have a source for this?

@txtx

Yes. The cops often monitor these chats so they can turn up and protect the fascists in question. Sometimes they don't and then we have fun.

An example is UKIP's planned attack on mosques in Birmingham this very weekend. You are welcome to come to Birmingham to oppose them if you want. There will probably be a lot of cops there to keep the fascists safe.

It's important to understand that violent fascist thuggery gets organised regularly in the UK by people with their real names and real faces, under the full knowledge of the police, and said police do nothing. At worst they might briefly hold a few high-profile people, but it's not serious: is Danny Tommo behind bars? Is Tommy Robinson, or Mark Collett, or Nick Tenconi?

If the concept of the rule of law has been abandoned by the state, you should probably consider your fallback option. Because mine was to get a mask and hoodie.

@passenger This just solidifies my opinion that I absolutely do not want to replicate UK politics in the EU. Everything about it sounds like a failure, from using social media to organize crime to having stick fights with thugs.

I demand more from my government.