The simpler explanation is that we live in a world that is more connected than ever so politicians, campaigners and the rest can get policy ideas almost instantly. There is no grand conspiracy, just a smaller world.

Shorter paths of communication.

Smaller quorums needed for control.

Fewer people with more wealth pushing through what they want across more borders.

Less and less concern for citizens in general.

We are seeing a rapid centralization of power.

Loss of democracy

More than one thing can be true.

Why are they getting ideas from each other instead of their own citizens? That in itself is a conspiracy of the elite cabal

Yeah, it's not like there's a literal james bond supervillain who writes books about this stuff and brags about how half of parliament is in his pocket.

For anyone that doesn't know, this is referring to Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum.

Well obviously? It's literally being broadcast in the news when diplomats talk to each other. What do you think they are talking about if not policy discussions?

Trade, wars, stuff like that. Foreign affairs, not domestic affairs.

All discussion of foreign affairs is the discussion of domestic affairs somewhere.

So it seems normal that a bunch of politicians, in the current climate, got together and decided that the weakest form of age verification imaginable absolutely had to get passed everywhere?

That's incomprehensible to me.

I'm not saying there's definitely no coordination, but nobody had to get together to decide that 2026 was the year for 90s fashion to make a comeback. Human society is very prone to fads in all areas.

No, some of them are trying to pass stronger forms which is bad

>"What do you think they are talking about if not policy discussions?"

Whom are they fucking next Thursday on that island

Btw, it doesn't need to be actively coordinated for this to happen.

Building architectural styles used to be per city and now buildings look roughly the same worldwide. Style is dependent on the year built not the location.

Because every architect is "reading the same magazine" worldwide now that the internet exists, rather than debating in their own city.

Similar monoculture of global thought is happening in all fields.

> Similar monoculture of global thought is happening in all fields.

Thereby removing yet more interesting things to see in the world through the spread of hyper-optimized inoffensive blandness. In the same way that restaurants are slowly turning into the same set of grey boxes with little of note distinguishing each.

> interesting things to see in the world

I mean, kinda the least of our worries in this thread, no? Restaurants and tourism??

My guess would be some very influential NGO(s). But I haven't looked into it or thought about it.

It's almost like a well-monied or well-connected lobbyist is pushing this heavily. Multiple contenders out there as to who it could be. But regardless of who the originator is, the push can be kneecapped. Imagine jurisdictions that have an opposite push - one that criminalizes use of age verification software such as mandating providing government ID or facial scans. It can be done!

It can't be done unless you have deeper pockets and access to media controlling the hard of thinking.

Incorrect!

There is an enormous amount of policy that doesn't require significant money to oppose this in your local jurisdictions! This is one of them.

This Reddit thread claims to have identified Meta/Facebook as a/the major villain (for age verification):

https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1rshc1f/i_traced_2_b...

Disclaimer: I have not myself verified the claims.

Right now, Tech is the bad guy across the world.

Especially the moment you move outside of America. Tech has always been comparatively more attuned to US mores and voter sentiment.

Everywhere else, I only see frustration and people trying to find someone who knows someone at a tech firm to get help.

The backlash against Tech firms is a force of nature at this point. Voters are currently unwilling to listen to appeals to reduce government overreach. Governments are trending towards authoritarianism globally, and are more than happy to give voters what they want, while also getting more leverage over tech.

Looks like it: https://tboteproject.com/

goes well beyond that

that is just the US

IMHO it’s a conspiracy against rights: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_against_rights

And when this nonsense is defeated, I’d like to see aggressive prosecution wherever we can get it.

I like the idea of your reply. This is what I'll add; Politics, religion and nation states, in a sense, are in some kind of shift. Politics: many nations with a lot of money and arms are engaging in world threatening actions. Religion: The three major ones, with no disrespect to the other ones, are warping into something that is spinning away from their original writings (of course, in some ways this is good, example: stoning.). Nation States: destruction on a massive scale-Syria, Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan...Is Iran next?

Perhaps instead of taking some responsibility for their actions, nations are going to further restrict their populations?

Nope.

TLDR: The macro forces are more than sufficient for this situation to occur.

HN-goers are largely unaware of the scope of the Techlash globally. Voters want tech firms to be more responsive to their needs.

Governments are beyond frustrated with tech, and every nation is trending towards authoritarianism.

So Governments are more than happy to appear responsive to voter needs, while also gaining a new source of leverage on tech.

I don’t know the lobbying teams directly, but I know many civil society and online safety folk.

Currently, most of those orgs are excluded from conversations and funding. Tech firms have also been cutting down on their safety teams, especially since the current US admin came to power.

———-

If this is actually to be addressed, “enshittification” needs to stop being a thing. Tech used to be known for excellent products, but currently its seen as untrustworthy and most likely to break the law with impunity, and to nickel and dime users.