Passport checks for social media

[m00ngirl]

The Government announced today that you’ll need to show a passport or driving license (or undergo a credit check) just to get a social media account from Spring next year.

This is part of the so-called “social media ban” for under 16s.

Are you willing to send these big tech companies photos of your own passport for an account..?

Are you happy with your teenage children sending their passports (if they have one) over the internet?

Will teenagers get around it?

I already had to show my passport for Reddit as wanted to read some 18+ forums. Didn’t mind for that as I don’t post in there. Mumsnet no way, or if I did it would be under a new email account and posting very bland non personal stuff, if at all.

Apple just told me I had passed their check because of the age of my account, I think I had it from about 2005.

My bank wouldn't need it, they already know how old I am. I've had an account with them since the 1960's and they gave me a mortgage in 1985.😂

It's not. That just hides your IP address, it doesn't prevent the ID wall that will appear.

I totally agree with this and hope it kills social media.

Yeah, I think anonymous forums shouldn't have to be included. But anything where you're speaking to a 'person' or can DM, that's a problem. So maybe MN just removes the option to DM and pushes back if they have to get IDs.

A VPN will effectively change your IP address. If you change your IP address to one that belongs to a country that doesn't have the ID requirement then you won't be asked for ID. There's already a very similar requirement to provide age-verification ID for access to porn sites from the UK and VPNs are routinely used to circumvent that.

I wouldn't be all that disappointed to lose Facebook. It has gone completely to pot anyway. My feed is now an endless string of adverts for things which hold no interest for me whatsoever, interspersed with posts I've seen ten times already, and it doesn't show me all the posts from friends, groups I belong to or organisations I'm following. Whatever algorithm/AI they are using is up shit creek without a paddle.

An awesome idea! Trolls who can be identified and punished? Brilliant.

Applying for a driving licence is fairly cheap and easy. I do think there will be another way for those who won’t apply for a passport or driving licence though.

No clue why I forgot VPNs can change the country(!) - haven't done it for ages - and to be honest, it didn't even occur to me at all that some countries might not adopt the ID restriction - so thank you for clarifying, that's really helpful. I don't think that will work long-term because I feel like ID will become the standard.

And if not.. we may find them banning VPNs..

Police can already identify and prosecute people who commit offences online though.

so I think the questions are here

is it necessary?
Will it actually work at keeping under 16s off social media?
Will it make anyone any safer?
is it worth the barrier it will create for millions who don’t have the right ID?
is it worth the barrier to the millions who won’t use social media if it means providing an ID?
is it worth cutting off the whistleblowers, DV survivors, and others who rely on anonymity online?
do we trust the government to limit IDs for the internet or will it soon be used for speech policing?
do we trust the tech companies to protect the data?

I think this proposal will just flag up social media companies as an even more attractive target for identity hackers.
Im not convinced that the information will be kept securely enough, so if this legislation comes in, it will be bye- bye Facebook and Mumsnet!

I thought (but haven’t ever done it!) that the porn sites mostly outsourced this for the reason that most people don’t want to give their ID to a porn site.

In fact I think my Reddit account verified through my Apple account which has my credit card so has proved I’m 18. It was seamless.

So I think what is more likely to happen in practice is that third party sites will sort of tokenise your age - you prove it to them and then you connect that website to your social media that just says “yes they are 18”.

I don’t think they can ban VPNs. Almost every work from home device for the government and large corporates will connect through a VPNs for security purposes. The privacy and data risk of removing VPNs would huge.

I think it may be reasonably workable elsewhere but not in the UK.

(1) there is no standard government-issued ID that is universal and free or nominal charge (except the NI voters' card, but relatively few people qualify); passports are expensive enough that those who don't plan to travel in the foreseeable future may reasonably delay getting one and not everyone drives.

(2) ID is not blanket required in the UK (although obviously adults need some form for many purposes) so there is no established requirement to have one or culturally normalised routine of getting a specific one, say at age 16 or 18. But even in countries that do issue an ID to all residents/citizens and require them to be shown on demand it's typically only required for adults, so your 16 and 17yos who can use social media fall through the cracks.

Also, and this is probably answered somewhere, how is this supposed to be policed internationally? If I already have SM accounts set up and I move to the UK, am I supposed to have to show ID to maintain them? What if I am just visiting? What if I go to France or Ireland for the weekend and go hog wild opening up a bunch of accounts? What if I post on a UK-based site but don't live in the UK?

It seems like an awful lot of research, consultation, planning, regulation, and enforcement for little, and dubious, gain. And we already know that the platforms - aside perhaps from those registered in the UK - won't and don't have to cooperate.

You can't ban VPNs outright but you could, in theory, legally require commercial VPNs like SurfShark and NordVPN to do age-verifying ID checks when you're setting up your account. It's hard to see how that could realistically be enforced though. Plus web browsers like Firefox and Opera include free, built-in VPNs so there's no account set up process at all for those.

Considering Government departments use VPNs (I’m connected to one at the moment), they won’t be banning them.

I already have a problem that apple doesn’t believe I’m an adult because I don’t have a credit card and clicking on the thing that’s supposed to give alternative ways to prove it doesn’t work. The only website I have been prevented from using so far because of this is my vets so I had to call them to make an appointment. Meanwhile, my teenager knows exactly how to get round the under 16s social media ban even though she probably will be 16 by the time they bring it in.

Haha I wouldn't put it past them. And they might just ban it for everyone else(!)

True but what stops them from removing the ability to change the country?

Yes considering you are bickering on here 24/7 🤣🤣