If you live in Mississippi, you may have noticed that you are no longer able to log into your Bluesky or Dreamwidth accounts from within the state. That’s because, in a chilling early warning sign for the U.S., both social platforms decided to block all users in Mississippi from their services rather than risk hefty fines under the state’s oppressive age verification mandate.

This consolidation of power is a dream come true for the Big Tech platforms, but it’s a nightmare for users. While the megacorporations get more traffic and a whole lot more user data (read: profit), users are left with far fewer community options and a bland, corporate surveillance machine instead of a vibrant public sphere. The internet we all fell in love with is a diverse and colorful place, full of innovation, connection, and unique opportunities for self-expression. That internet—our internet—is worth defending.

  • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zipEnglish
    1·
    22 hours ago

    ‘Forces’ should not even be used in this context. These companies are all too happy to be able to get even more PII from everyone.

    • douglasg14b@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      18 hours ago

      Some of them. Yes, many others not so much. Are you not realizing the thread you’re commenting on here?

      That smaller site services and companies who really don’t want to collect this data are going to be forced to at an expense that may be too high for their entry point into the market they’re trying to work in?

      Or even worse websites or services that are hosted for free may have to incur costs they cannot afford for data they don’t want to collect.