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A comment on Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for Social Media Accounts. Parent comment

Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by giancarlostoro on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @03:22PM (#46622552)
Discord is 100% social media. Just like WhatsApp. MSN definitely was, remember MSN Groups? MSN Chat (the IRC knock off), and a bunch of other things. As someone who has consumed social media and chat platforms, I will note that most chat platforms are social media in their own regard. Habbo Hotel is another example of social media. :)
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Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by iso1631 on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @03:31PM (#46622732)
Is SMS social media?
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Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by smlavine on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @03:34PM (#46622792)
No, it is a protocol that allows a user to create their own social network within their Messaging app.
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Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by atiedebee on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @03:54PM (#46623199)
Wait, how is that different from WhatsApp?
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Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by Bratmon on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @05:18PM (#46624544)
How is that different from Discord?
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Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by vlad-roundabout on Thursday January 15, 2026 @12:08PM (#46635682)
Next you will say that somehow iMessage isn't social media, but WhatsApp is.
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Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by joe_mamba on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @05:28PM (#46624692)
> Just like WhatsApp.

Sorry but I don't consider WhatsApp to be in the social media category since it's just a chat app for your contacts, not an A/B algorithmically driven carousel of media to keep you hooked in and for strangers to hit you up (unless they have your phone number). However I do think Meta will try to slowly make it a social media app.

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Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by WA on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @05:35PM (#46624815)
Kids in 5th grade use WhatsApp for entertainment to send hundreds of messages per day filled with memes and slop. From the perspective of one kid in a class chat, this is indistinguishable from an algorithmically curated feed.
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Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by joe_mamba on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @05:37PM (#46624862)
> this is indistinguishable from an algorithmically curated feed

If a classmate is sending you slop memes, then it's human curated content from an acquaintance, and not algorithmically driven, unless you consider your friends bots.

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Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by robot-wrangler on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @05:57PM (#46625143)
Is it? If kids grab the top result of a massively A/B tested algorithmic feed trying hook people and/or maximize the controversy / engagement, then arbitrage it onto another simpler less gamified platform... is that really human curated? There's some truth to the idea that, as long as there is any social media, everything is social media.
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Re:Why Every Country Should Set 16 as the Minimum Age for So... by giancarlostoro on Thursday January 15, 2026 @09:11AM (#46632767)
It's not just for your contacts though, in other countries WhatsApp is used like Facebook pages for your local town too. There's all sorts of group chats on WhatsApp.
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