TLDR: Everyone who reads this should not use Youtube at all on the 12th, because they want to use AI to force you to give them your facial, credit card, and government ID information.
Sources first:
Article:
https://www.theverge.com/news/715343/youtube-age-estimation-ai-minor-account-restrictions
Actual Act:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1748/text
On August 13th, Youtube is planning to implement an AI system that they will use to determine if your account, based on search history, is an adult’s account. If your account is falsely flagged as a minor’s account, you can get that restriction lifted by sending them a selfie, a picture of your Government I.D., or a credit card. Here are the problems with just the verification method; you can easily take a picture of an older person and claim it is a ‘selfie’, take a picture of a Government I.D., and credit cards can be acquired by minors.
But the deeper issue is this opens the door for companies to make decisions on what media you can and cannot view based on their own AI. It is one of the biggest steps possible to giving AI control over our lives as possible, with tech giants being able to blame anything going wrong on it without acknowledging any responsibility, while also using it to control the population. We have already recently seen overreaches by Visa and Mastercard in determining what their customers can purchase, and allowing this next step without protest could be damning.
That is why we need to rally people to refuse to use Youtube on August 12th, the day before it goes live. A mass blackout of Youtube use can show the company that they stand more to lose by doing this to their consumers than what they would gain. In the end, Youtube is a corporation above all other things.
Youtube is trying to claim that it is doing this as part of the Online Safety Act, to ensure it complies. This is not true. The requirements of the Online Safety Act are:
- Creation and Implementation of a design feature that allows prevention or mitigation a specific list of harmful content to minors. (Section 102:A)
- Specifically says it does not have to prevent any situation where the content is searched for or requested; it only can’t show up in automatic algorithms. (Section 102:(b):1:A)
- Only requires a readily accessible and easy to use safe guard for known minors (An in built Parental Lock System) that can be used to: (103:(a):1, large section)
-Limit ability of other users to communicate with minors
-Prevent others from viewing minor’s personal data.
-Limit default features that encourage increased frequency or time spent on the platform. (Allows removal of Doomscrolling or large auto-play playlists)
-Allow minors to opt out of personalized recommendation systems
-Have readily displayed option to limit categories from such systems
-Restrict Geolocation sharing.
-Limit amount of time spent on the platform. (Including viewing total time spent on platform)
-Prevent online purchases
-These also have to be enabled to their most protective level until enabled by a parent.
None of these require things like forcing adults to share their personal data, such as facial requirements or government I.D.'s. The safety act even specifies (Section 108:(a):2) that the online conduct DOES NOT have the purpose or effect of subverting or impairing user autonomy, decision-making, or choice. This is something Youtube is choosing to do all on its own.
We need to get as many people as possible to boycott Youtube on August 12th. It can show them they aren’t untouchable, and that using this A.I. implementation to prevent any form of online anonymity will not be tolerated.
If anyone has suggestions for other places to post this, please let me know.
Originally Posted By u/thebastardking21 At 2025-08-05 11:16:56 AM | Source
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