Decentralized social network Mastodon says it cannot comply with age verification laws, like in Mississippi and elsewhere, and says it's up to individual server owners to decide.

Mastodon, the decentralized social network, stated it cannot comply with age verification laws like Mississippi’s recent legislation because it lacks the technical capability to do so[1]. While Mastodon’s software allows server administrators to specify a minimum age of 16 for sign-ups, the age-check data is not stored, and the nonprofit has no way to verify users’ ages[1:1].

The organization emphasizes that individual server owners must decide for themselves whether to implement age verification, noting that Mastodon was founded specifically “to allow different jurisdictions to have social media that is independent of the U.S.”[1:2]

This stance follows Bluesky’s decision to block service in Mississippi over similar age verification requirements[1:3]. Mastodon’s position highlights the unique challenges decentralized platforms face with regional compliance, as there is “nobody that can decide for the fediverse to block Mississippi,” according to Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko[1:4].

  1. TechCrunch - Mastodon says it doesn’t ‘have the means’ to comply with age verification laws ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  • ALLGLORYTOHYPNOTOAD@lemmy.world
    130·
    16 天前

    I am so sick of this fascism wrapped in the language of child protectionism. This is only about going after dissenting voices who use the shield of anonymity to speak freely. The persecution of people defending Gaza vocally is proof of that.

    • ki9@lemmy.gf4.pwEnglish
      34·
      16 天前

      At least “protect the children” is a meme now. Lotta people aren’t buying it.

      • floofloof@lemmy.ca
        24·
        16 天前

        Doesn’t matter whether people buy it when their views have no effect on government policy. It seems many governments are simultaneously deciding to require ID to use the internet, and you have to suspect it’s coordinated.

        I think we neee to protest, but we also need to work hard to set up more robust ways to use at least the non-corporate web anonymously. If it’s left to governments we’ll get to the point where only licensed corporate publishers are allowed to run a website and only licensed users can access it.

    • kkj@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      18·
      16 天前

      After they used the same line about jazz, rock and roll, Dungeons and Dragons, video games…

      • drspawndisaster@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        6·
        16 天前

        Oh wow I had no idea, thank you for informing me. I believe you with no proof.

        Edit: I made this comment with the belief that by “it” they meant “a free internet”

            • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
              1·
              15 天前

              because their objective in doing this is surveillance, not really to “protect children”. the entire point is moot anyway, and we shouldn’t spend our anger at each other.

              (and i’d argue blanket age-gating stuff like wikipedia is probably harmful for children, yea)

    • Mugita Sokio@discuss.onlineEnglish
      2·
      16 天前

      Next step, it’ll be the Roman Catholic Church that will be protected, and Israelies who kvetch about the Gaza stuff would be nothing, my producer seems to think think, in the future when there’s a mass exodus that occurs from the Roman Catholic Church.

  • JamesBoeing737MAX@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    15·
    15 天前

    Why do you think everyone wants to use age verification. To rectrict us to only corporate media and to stop the little online anonymity and privacy we have left.

    • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
      9·
      16 天前

      Next you can’t go online without the web cam on, your ID card and a newspaper of the day visible in it, including an retina scan. Naturally to protect our childrens. Naturally accounts on any site only with full real name, direction, Phone, CC and social security number. Safety first.

        • Mr_WorldlyWiseman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          1·
          12 天前

          From your source:

          These are used in zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) – a way for two parties to validate that one of them asserts a fact without learning what that fact is in the process (this is super cool stuff). Users can send their subcredentials to a third party, who can use a ZKP to validate them without learning anything else about the user – so you could prove your age (or even just prove that you are over 18 without disclosing your age at all) without disclosing your identity.

          All the arguments against ZKP on the following paragraphs misunderstand the way the state and intergovernmental institutions, and the rule of law work in the EU. Many EU countries already have digital identity providers that are used every day by their citizens. I think very few people are arguing in favor of dismantling them.

          • ell1e@leminal.spaceEnglish
            2·
            12 天前

            I don’t think arguing “a fascist government can easily force now separate institutions to connect in the future” is a misunderstanding. My apologies if I didn’t read your point right, however.

            • Mr_WorldlyWiseman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
              1·
              12 天前

              Thanks for the discussion and thanks for raising the issue.

              Yeah, I think its a misunderstanding of European political development to think that EU governments would willingly violate their code of human rights like that.

              The same anarchist argument could be made about pensions or the military, but the societal benefits of those institutions outweigh the risks of their potential corruption by autocrats.

              Anarchism does have its place, and it’s important that the EU weighs the risk and reward of centralized idps carefully, and doesn’t blindly go for the save the children argument. The use of strict age verification probably isn’t worth the risk outside of extreme risks to children’s health, like pornography, gambling, and drugs. That is something that the European Commission themselves have said too. Stuff that completely misses that balance like Chat Control needs to die.

              • ell1e@leminal.spaceEnglish
                2·
                12 天前

                I agree the EU has shown a higher human rights interest. But if the temptation is too high, like with a digital ID everyone is habituated to using daily, they’ll likely falter eventually. That seems to be Cory Doctorow’s angle as well. Edit: shortened.

      • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
        2·
        15 天前

        And poorly educated takes like this is why the regims will succeed of slipping these oppressive laws through.

  • TankieTanuki [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    16 天前

    Would this only apply to servers hosted in Mississippi (or wherever)? Or any server with users registering from Mississippi IPs?

    Edit: I’m guessing it’s the latter.