#stopidsurveillance

Age verification processes are dangerous to Canadians ⚠️🧵 Unfortunately, there is no magical solution: A ban of social media for children necessarily means a requirement to identify every adult using social media. This means that intrusive age-verification processes would have to be put in place by social media platforms, therefore collecting an immense quantity of very sensitive information from every Canadian adult using social media. This is dangerous in many ways. First, it means many (if not most) platforms will delegate this task to private for-profit third-party vendors with little to no incentive to protect this information properly. We have already seen data breaches of sensitive information in this process. This would increase the risk of Canadians becoming victims of identity theft and fraud, and would diminish the value of Canadian identification documents over time. Secondly, this can create a permanent record of legal identities tied to social media accounts. This would endanger users who rely on pseudonymity online for safety, such as victims of domestic violence, trans and gender diverse people (for whom the legal identification might not match the name used on social media), performers using stage names online, and other people that are part of marginalized groups regularly targeted online (women, people of colour, 2SLGBTQ+ people, etc.). All these vulnerable groups would only be one data breach away from incredible harm with the implementation of mandatory identity checks to access social media. Furthermore, risking to link every social media account to a legal identity can have a silencing effect for activists, journalists, and whistleblowers. This can lead to self-censorship of topics important to discuss publicly in a free democracy. (2/9) #StopIDSurveillance #Privacy #HumanRights #AgeVerification #CanPoli #Canada

A ban does nothing to address the harm caused by social media 🧨🧵 The things that harm children on social media also harm adults. A ban of social media for children sadly does nothing to reduce the harm caused by social media, it only reserves it to adult, and postpones it for children. The addictive and manipulative black-box algorithms, the privacy-intrusive data collection, the harmful violent content and misinformation, are all hurting adults as well. Moreover, children who do not go around the ban before the restricted age (other implementations have shown that most children will attempt to circumvent the ban) will find themselves completely ill-equipped to protect themselves from social media harm once they come of age, and will be made even more vulnerable by our own legislation claiming to protect them. A true solution to this is to regulate corporate platforms to forbid addictive algorithms, targeted advertising, intrusive data collection, third-party data sharing, violent content, weak moderation, manipulative tactics, and other abusive mechanisms used by certain platforms to prioritize profits over the safety and sanity of its users. This would not only help children, but adults and society as a whole as well. (3/9) #StopIDSurveillance #Privacy #HumanRights #AgeVerification #CanPoli #Canada

Lobbyists are influencing policies more than experts and advocates 💰🧵 Unfortunately, there are many groups that are putting pressure on governments all around the world to increase surveillance under the guise of protecting the children. The rapidly growing, for-profit, age assurance industry has all to gain in influencing governments to push for age verification processes and bans of social media for children. Even Meta has reportedly invested heavily in a network of organisations to discreetly lobby for age verification at the operating system level. Meanwhile, nonprofit organisations and advocates who genuinely care for the well-being of the public have been warning for years about the dangers of age verification and social media ban legislation, but have much less money and power to influence policies at the government level. I implore you, as the elected representatives for all Canadians, to consider this threat of corporate influence cautiously in your decisions, to listen to the warnings from advocates and experts in the field, and to prioritize first and foremost the well-being and safety of all Canadians. (4/9) #StopIDSurveillance #Privacy #HumanRights #AgeVerification #CanPoli #Canada

Children would be harmed by this ban 🧒🧵 Despite how it might feel at first glance, a ban of social media for children would actually create new harm for children. First, many children would try to circumvent the ban, this is already happening in countries with such legislation, like Australia. Second, children who cannot circumvent the ban might be pushed to darker corners of the web to rebuild their social lives, on worse platforms, without any moderation or safety measures. Moreover, being pushed out of the legal frame, these teens and children might feel less inclined to report any abuses experienced to a trustworthy adult, effectively making the situation much worse. Then, children living with abusive or unsupportive families could lose their support network overnight. It is quite common for 2SLGBTQ+ teens and children living with families that do not support them to find emotional support in a network of peers online. This is often vital to survival. Losing this support suddenly can have devastating permanent consequences. (5/9) #StopIDSurveillance #Privacy #HumanRights #AgeVerification #CanPoli #Canada

If you have to upload a piece of information to validate your age or identity, it is not privacy-preserving. Stop privacy-washing surveillance tech. Stay alert about false privacy claims. #Privacy #StopIDSurveillance #StopKillingTheInternet

Do not provide your ID or facial scan to access social media. I repeat, do NOT provide your ID or facial scan to access social media when requested. This is not a drill. If everyone refuse to comply, and let their accounts dormant instead, I promise you the platforms themselves, with their immense budget and network of lobbyists, are going to fight these absurd laws to recover their users. They need you more than you need them. Make them fight for your rights. Do not comply. Spread the word and boycott ID checks ✊ #StopIDSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #HumanRights #Democracy #Safety #MassSurveillance #Authoritarianism

A thread to Stop ID Surveillance from coming to Canada ⛔️🧵 Yesterday, I sent a long letter the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Culture Minister Marc Miller, and the leaders of all other major federal parties in Canada. I sent this letter to voice my concerns about the upcoming bill that is planned to be introduced today at 5 p.m. ET, to propose a ban of social media for children, therefore requiring all social media platforms to identify every adults accessing it. This is a long thread of what I wrote (mute me for one hour if you don't want to see it). Feel free to copy any parts you want to share in your own letter of opposition sent to your representatives this week. Here's how to find their contact information: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/search (1/9) #StopIDSurveillance #Privacy #HumanRights #AgeVerification #CanPoli #Canada

Today, the Canadian government wants to introduce a bill banning social media for children under 16. This means requiring ID from every adults who want to access social media. This is a privacy and democracy nightmare. "Ottawa is set to introduce legislation to enact what the government is calling the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act. It’s expected to be introduced later Wednesday, with Culture Minister Marc Miller holding a news conference at 5 p.m. ET after a technical briefing." https://globalnews.ca/news/11897929/social-media-ban-under-16/ Contact our Prime Minister Mark Carney and Culture Minister Marc Miller TODAY to voice your opposition: mark.carney@parl.gc.ca Marc.Miller@parl.gc.ca Contact your local MP as well by finding their contact information here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/search We must Stop ID Surveillance in Canada before it's too late. #StopIDSurveillance #Privacy #HumanRights #AgeVerification #Authoritatianism

In reality, what they call age verification is abusive ID surveillance checks for everyone. Start calling it what it is: ID Surveillance. We must all fight to Stop ID Surveillance. #StopIDSurveillance #AgeVerification #MassSurveillance #Authoritarianism #Privacy #HumanRights

PRIVACY ALERT! Please boost for reach! 🚨👇 The Canadian government is planning to introduce a bill on Wednesday, June 10th, to mandate identity surveillance of every adult using social media in Canada! 👁️‍🗨️ https://globalnews.ca/news/11894610/canada-social-media-ban-teens-online-harms-bill/ A ban on social media for children does nothing to reduce the harm caused by commercial social media. Instead, it means mandatory ID scans for every adult using social media. We must stop this authoritarian proposal, and demand our government focuses instead on reducing the harm for everyone using social media. It has been explained by experts over and over that bans of social media are shortsighted lazy measures that do not help in the end, but in fact harm everyone, including the children. Stop ID surveillance in Canada! ✊⛔️ Contact your MP and our Prime Minister TODAY to voice your opposition. Here's where to find their contact information: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/search If you aren't aware of this issue yet, here's more information on age verification: https://www.eff.org/issues/age-verification #AgeVerification #Privacy #Canada #HumanRights #CanPoli #StopIDChecks #StopIDSurveillance