Is insane how the UK literally wants to control all the media lol
this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2026
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Part of this statement is a promise to examine age restrictions when it comes to AI use, as well as restrictions or limits on children's ability to access VPNs
Ah, so they're just using this to sneak in a VPN ban
It‘s another mass surveillance bill. Don‘t be fooled.
Are there still little pockets of surveillance gaps the UK hasn't got covered?
"Part of this statement is a promise to examine age restrictions when it comes to AI use, as well as restrictions or limits on children's ability to access VPNs"
This seemingly unflushable proposal to restrict VPNs is surely the most important part of the article?
Restricting VPNs? That's like trying to restrict the internet completely. China's tried that and failed.
They really tried to sneak that in there and hope people won't notice.
I'm sure it's the only bit they'll actually bother enforcing
Infinite scroll is one of the biggest cancers of the modern digital era. I'd be so happy if this ended on all major platforms.
Why? I don't want to be inconvienced because you can't manage yourself.
Why should I have to hit refresh or next page.
This is a you problem.
It's a human problem. It's designed to be addictive and exploit the mechanics of the human brain. While some people are more resistant to it, most are not because it's just how we're wired.
It’s a human problem. It’s designed to be addictive and exploit the mechanics of the human brain.
What is "it" exactly? Scrolling is not "it".
some people are more resistant to it, most are not because it’s just how we’re wired.
Can't argue with most people are stupid. But this is where capitalism lands us. What is a company that relies on engagement and advertising supposed to do? All entertainment is this way, all ads are this way. It is bizarre to even try and mitigate this without going to the underlying problem: stupid, vulnerable, disadvantaged, or uneducated people. And parents that don't seem to understand you can't just let your kids do anything they want.
We have known for years that video causes people to turn off critical thinking, become passive, and do nothing but more watching. Scrolling or not. This argument has been made over and over during the televisions hey day.
Now I am going to say the problem, as a society, appears to be a little different. We know that the lower your income, the more time spent watching these videos. We know that the lower the education the same is true. Compulsive and problematic use is often correlated with disadvantage or inequality. Which of course it does, addiction often does. Not always of course, but there is a strong correlation.
And even in the endless scrolling debate they mention the "addiction by design" targets those vulnerable to it.
So, I would say I am less interested in regulating scrolling, and more interested in creating more third spaces, more economic opportunity, less stress, etc. Some way to educate people against manipulation, maybe even treatment.
But as always the government is not about curating a better society, its about wealth and control.
Good point, they could give us the option to toggle between infinite scroll or not.
In theory. Society doesn't see it that way though. Most societies for example have limitations on access to heroine as a significant portion of the population is not able to effectively achieve control and moderation which leads to harm to self and others. This is similar. When something hijackss brain chemistry this powerfully the solution is typically restricting access at a higher than personal choice level.
The issue is having a device in their hand and nothing better to do. Ban all video if you really want to get to the root of the problem.
Anyone ever say "look out, that usenet feed is endless scrolling! Or my IRC chat just keeps scrolling!"
No, because scrolling is not the problem. This is obviously nothing about scrolling, its about control and monitoring, but if they actually wanted to tackle the underlying issue of addiction, scrolling itself is not it.
I am not going to be told I can't see endless results on a fucking web page because some dipshit cant stop watching short form videos. Hell, keep the endless scrolling but ban the pictures/and videos. I look at lemmy with basically text and thumbnails, why should I be punished?
You want to end it on Fediverse apps too, right? Riiight?
Can't have infinite scroll when you run out of content to scroll through. /s
I mean, sure. It's easier to do it on them since they usually have a lot of open source apps that allow disabling infinite scroll. I believe it'd be easier for the EU to regulate the major platforms because the number of platforms would be just a handful, which is easier to enforce.
I use the lemmy web because it doesn't have infinite scroll, and the version 1.0.0 will allow to select the number of posts the user wishes to see on his feed. Looks pretty cool, you can see here: voyager.lemmy.ml
I'm not the person you asked, but I would be totally fine with that. Being forced to click a Next button is a small price to pay to stop social media platforms that thrive on a continuous stream of ragebait and bad news (or other content feeds crafted to grab your attention).
The platforms that will be hurt the most won't be the ones on the Fediverse.
^ shill for the pager lobby
I'd love it if platforms would implement a toggle to switch from infinite scroll to pagination
After 3 pages you toggle it back to infinite.
Personally after 3 pages I close the app because I notice that I've been spending way too much time on it. Infinite scroll makes you forget how much time you spend on it.
If you can't control yourself, you can always get the state to control everybody.
If you can't control yourself, you can always get the state to control everybody
"I can handle crack just fine! I don't know why it's outlawed!"
State control applies to a lot of addictive substances that cause material harm to society in general.
Stares hard at social media
Not a damned thing in that article had anything at all to do with "chatbots".
First they came for TikTok, then they installed the age gates, now they're attacking infinite scroll?!?
What will the libs come for next?