{"id":299401,"date":"2024-11-27T09:08:24","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T09:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=299401"},"modified":"2024-11-29T08:53:42","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T08:53:42","slug":"australias-social-media-ban-is-digital-id-via-the-backdoor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=299401","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s \u201cSocial Media Ban\u201d is Digital ID via the backdoor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kit Knightly \u2013 Off-Guardian Nov 26, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Earlier this month Australia\u2019s government announced plans to ban anyone under the age of sixteen from using social media.<\/p>\n

Social media companies aren\u2019t happy about it, predictably, and the kind of people conditioned to oppose everything social media-related are proudly cheering it on.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how the issue is being framed. Social media\/big business vs protecting children.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not what it\u2019s really about. It\u2019s really<\/em> about digital identity and removal of anonymity.<\/p>\n

Think about it \u2013 how do you enforce banning anyone under 16 from social media?<\/p>\n

Well, you need everyone to prove their age before starting an account.<\/p>\n

How do they prove their age?<\/p>\n

Why, with a new Australian government backed digital identity of course.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the one that was created by an Act of Parliament<\/a> in May and is due to come online on December 1st<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t me spouting hypotheticals, they\u2019re openly saying it. From Reuters<\/a> [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n

Australia plans to trial an age-verification system that may include biometrics or government identification to enforce a social media age cut-off<\/strong>, some of the toughest controls imposed by any country to date.<\/p>\n

The plan couldn\u2019t be more obvious.<\/p>\n

Step 1 \u2013 Create digital ID.<\/strong>
\nStep 2 \u2013 Enforce its use via \u201cthink of the children\u201d messaging.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026that\u2019s it. It\u2019s a two step plan.<\/p>\n

To give them some credit, they might be playing a slightly longer game here. It\u2019s possible the sweeping \u201cno children on facebook or twitter\u201d stance (which has come in for some criticism in mainstream papers) is a deliberately extreme policy intended to sell their true goal as some kind of \u201ccompromise measure\u201d.<\/p>\n

For example, maybe they\u2019ll relent and say \u201cfine, children can use social media, but everyone has to use Digital ID to end anonymity so we can monitor predators\u201d<\/em>\u2026or something.<\/p>\n

However it plays out, Australia is getting digital ID because oh won\u2019t somebody PLEASE think of the children<\/em>.<\/p>\n