Time for first princples on internet not banning under 16s.

Time for first principles on the internet, not banning under-16s.

It’s time for a first-principles approach on the internet, not just banning things. It doesn’t work. The reason is simple: law is slow, people are flexible. Close one loop, another opens. So, what does a principle-first approach look like? Why do I think that? And what caused me to stop doing chores to write this?

Principle-first means breaking down complex problems into their most fundamental parts. Reasoning from there to build new solutions rather than relying on existing assumptions or “wisdom.” It’s about questioning everything to find the core blocks. The current idea of banning is just silly—a reactive patch on a broken system. The user no longer has agency or control; the tech companies do.

In this extractive business model, if we say something is “dangerous,” we’re admitting the platform itself is the problem. It’s built on harmful assumptions and practices. Take Facebook, for example. It knows it makes money off scam or fraud advertising. Yet it still takes the money anyway—same with the others. There are no real consequences for these actions. They have the ability to scan content out or block it, but they don’t. Why? Because the cost of fixing it eats into the profit of the “infinite money machine.”

The question shouldn’t be “who is allowed to view this?” but “why are we allowing these platforms to behave like this in the first place?” Instead of a technology-only solution, we need more resources and real enforcement. Most harmful content is public, not private. We need bigger moderation teams, not just a “Trust me bro” algorithm. That’s how we got here in the first place—a group of people misunderstanding or not knowing how this stuff actually works.

I don’t think having images scanned on our hardware is wise. That’s a massive privacy risk. It would be better to make it easier to report stuff and have content removed without complex paperwork. Right now, it’s a problem where only people with time and money can actually get things fixed. Nobody else can.

Standardizing things makes sense. I don’t want to live in a world where the “big boys” can function but smaller 3rd parties get pushed out or can’t serve people. Social media should be social, not “engagement media.” The internet should be in our hands, not someone’s pocket.

Spain, Australia, and France are all looking at banning under-16s. We’re seeing a wave of AV checks popping up everywhere. I don’t believe age verification works—it just shows a weakness as people “go it alone.” If these platforms are harmful for under-16s, they must be harmful for adults too. It’s not hard to see how easy it is to fall off the path.

Now governments are looking at age verification for VPNs, or even banning VPNs. Adding layers instead of dealing with the core problem. It adds extra cost to businesses and pushes people underground. It’s the opposite of a principle-first approach. These companies claim they aren’t publishers, but they are. They editorialize using algorithms to push content right at you. It’s time to put the agency back with the users.