The uncomfortable truth is HN needs to see this. And the usual responses of “it’s the job of the parents to police this, not society and not laws” should have one comment thread dedicated so they can all echo to each other the same statement over and over while the rest of the thread actually talks about the article and the societal issues at hand.
Its not. A big problem with the way it was handled is that non logged in users aren't affected. So Youtube for instance, cant tailor its suggestions for the users age, and they get suggested really screwed up shit instead.
Age verification sucks. But most of these platforms need to be atomised, not restricted.
The reality is these platforms are optimized to use any content to increase page views and ad revenue. I am typically not an advocate of regulation, however at the very least restrict these platforms to 18 and older