I don’t think we realize just how much damage an online incident can affect children because we’re no longer ten years old. While I’d love to trust companies to have the best interest in all audiences in mind, my child went down a YouTube rabbit hole of Minecraft, Scratch, and innocent kid videos before being suggested Slenderman, spooky ghost stories, and inevitably a rebirthing video where the participant died.

Several years of behavioral therapy fixed the night terrors and ticks (he is a spectrum child tbh) but the anxiety attacks in certain situations hasn’t. Neither has my ability to unblock YouTube on our DNS because the recommendation engine is clearly predatory.

My child is old enough now to circumvent arbitrary restrictions. Whether it’s friends, VPN, or coding up some clever solution. But that effort comes from maturity and reasoning. Not some corp serving ads and clicks.