Regulate Algorithms and Data Collection, Not Age Verification

Stop wasting resources on age verification systems for social media. Instead, regulate the algorithms and data collection practices that manipulate all users, regardless of age. Age limits miss the point entirely. Young people need safe digital spaces to participate in public debate, not exclusion. Age verification creates serious privacy risks, as we've seen in Australia where Facebook now requires face scans. Kids will simply migrate to alternative platforms that may be worse, and companies will design services that technically avoid the "social media" label while doing the same harm. The real problem is that a handful of Silicon Valley companies control our attention infrastructure with zero democratic oversight. Their algorithms and manipulative design features like infinite scroll and like buttons are engineered to maximize engagement time, systematically undermining our ability to think independently. As former Google strategist James Williams argues, the liberation of human attention is a critical moral and political struggle. Require transparency about algorithmic systems and design goals. Enforce existing legislation. Mandate interoperability between platforms. Target the concrete mechanisms that capture attention, not arbitrary age cutoffs. The concentration of power over how we receive information and form our thoughts threatens democratic values far more than teenagers using Instagram.