Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

Re:Age verification for social media, the beginning of the e... by fsflover on Wednesday June 03, 2026 @12:33PM (#48386234)

Yes, because it does not depend on a single entity, for-profit or not.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Age verification for social media, the beginning of the e... by jijijijij on Wednesday June 03, 2026 @03:50PM (#48389012)

Neither does the normal web. It became this way. The ability to run decentralized is not what is preventing enshittification.

I would argue eg. a LoRa based Reticulum network is enshittification resistant, because of physical bandwidth and range limitations. It enforces decentralization and abuse/advertisement/... inherently doesn't scale, is not worth the effort. It favors authentic, low reach human2human information sharing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Age verification for social media, the beginning of the e... by fsflover on Wednesday June 03, 2026 @04:06PM (#48389242)

The internet itself is not enshittified. Certain websites and services on it are. Heard of HN?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Age verification for social media, the beginning of the e... by jijijijij on Friday June 05, 2026 @08:59AM (#48411837)

So, then why exactly do we need an alternative?

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Re:Age verification for social media, the beginning of the e... by fsflover on Friday June 05, 2026 @10:03AM (#48412731)

We need an alternative to the enshittified services, not to the Internet.

[ Parent | on HN ]