A European Union research service publishes a paper about calls for VPN regulation, noting that they’re ‘increasingly used to bypass online age verification.’
A European Union research service publishes a paper about calls for VPN regulation, noting that they’re ‘increasingly used to bypass online age verification.’
For many people, especially politicians, it was always about this. It’s a rejection of the unregulated “wild west” internet, built on US ideals of free speech.
Germany used to have a fairly successful Facebook clone. Once it was a bit successful, it was forced to split up. Minors had to get their own separate service, where they could not be contacted by adults. It wasn’t a hit. The “American technological hegemony” is the result of deliberate policy choices such as that.
Demanding age verification of websites and services is Europe sticking to its guns; European values.