Age Verification A Windfall for Big Tech— A Death Sentence For Smaller Platforms

Age verification mandates entrench Big Tech and push smaller platforms offline, according to this EFF piece. Bluesky and Dreamwidth both blocked all users in Mississippi rather than risk fines under H.B. 1126, the state's age verification law, which took effect after the Supreme Court lifted an injunction. Dreamwidth said that even a single $10,000 fine would be rough for it, while the per-user, per-incident fine structure is an existential threat. The article also cites UK forums that shut down under the Online Safety Act while Reddit, YouTube and Spotify added age checks.