USCE Winter 2023: change thread titles constantly, almost on a daily basis

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USCE Winter 2023: change thread titles constantly, almost on a daily basis

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Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

If only Meta hadn't bought and killed the site that TikTok is just the replacement for.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 01:39

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 8, 2024 16:59

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

Ghost Leviathan posted:

If only Meta hadn't bought and killed the site that TikTok is just the replacement for.

Twitter bought and killed Vine

# ? Mar 24, 2023 02:41

Staluigi: Jun 22, 2021

I never got over it

The whole obviousness of "its going to be trump versus desantis" was basically because the gop is dying on an institutional competence level and anything antitrumpist got stuffed years ago and never recovered. It's the two most virulent fungal blooms fighting over a corpse at this point

# ? Mar 24, 2023 02:54

Morrow: Oct 31, 2010

Trump vs DeSantis isn't even an ideological fight. It's a personal one, it's Kronos eating his children.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 03:31

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Morrow posted:

Trump vs DeSantis isn't even an ideological fight. It's a personal one, it's Kronos eating his children.

Yeah, it's what package do you want the cereal in? Do you want the plain cardboard one with a boring picture of a bowl of cereal on it, or do you want the bright coloured one with the eye popping 3D font and the picture of the cartoon dog slam dunking a basket ball into a hoop riding a skateboard with cool shades and a baseball cap on it? Both cereals contain the exact same quantity of 104% arsenic, but which one do you imagine just tastes better?

# ? Mar 24, 2023 05:18

Bar Ran Dun: Jan 22, 2006

Morrow posted:

Trump vs DeSantis isn't even an ideological fight. It's a personal one, it's Kronos eating his children.

Now that�s a prompt for one of those images generators.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 06:02

Zwabu: Aug 7, 2006

Is DeSantis going to flame out so badly and so quickly that he'll back down from even announcing in the first place? JFC.

It really seemed like the only winning scenarios that he had a "plan" for if you call it that were Trump doesn't run, Trump dies or becomes seriously ill, Trump goes to jail or gets convicted of so much serious stuff that his candidacy is rendered nonviable. Anything where he actually has to run primaries against Trump he (as well as Haley etc.) have no answer for at all, it's extremely weaksauce and comical.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 06:46

Staluigi: Jun 22, 2021

Zwabu posted:

Is DeSantis going to flame out so badly and so quickly that he'll back down from even announcing in the first place? JFC.

A lot of it got talked about pretty consistently, like how he's doing conservatism on easy mode in Florida, how he's got a glass jaw and gets wrecked in contentious debates, how super weird he actually is as a person, his likely sexpestery, all of that

But the central theme is that he really just doesn't have a natural charisma of any kind that he needs to be able to handle when even a diminished trump comes at him. At least a fifth or a quarter of conservatives are ride or die for trump under any circumstances and desantis is learning why trump earned that fanatical jackboot squad of voters in the first place

# ? Mar 24, 2023 10:08

Meatball: Mar 2, 2003; That's a Spicy Meatball; Pillbug

Zwabu posted:

Is DeSantis going to flame out so badly and so quickly that he'll back down from even announcing in the first place? JFC.

I want him to stay in long enough to get a pic of him eating pudding.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 12:29

Kavros: May 18, 2011; sleep sleep sleep
fly fly post post
sleep sleep sleep

Is there actually like video of desantis eating that i need to see, because so far I have only heard stories

# ? Mar 24, 2023 12:49

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Kavros posted:

Is there actually like video of desantis eating that i need to see, because so far I have only heard stories

The pudding tape is real.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 13:05

cr0y: Mar 24, 2005

Cool
https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1639235554372976643?t=tgGaAKwnaNmBu4Gsaps5pA&s=19

quote:

What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country? Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely hates the USA!

cr0y fucked around with this message at 14:14 on Mar 24, 2023

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:09

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

PT6A posted:

The pudding tape is real.

DeSantis has already issued a weird denial of that specific situation, but he seems weirdly guilty about it and answered it in the most suspicious way possible.

quote:

DeSantis: Were these some anonymous sources? I'm telling ya, I don�t remember ever doing that. I don't remember doing it in that instance.

Morgan: Did you ever do it?

DeSantis: I don't know.

Morgan: You don't know?

DeSantis: I... uh... maybe when I was a kid. When people go after you sometimes they have really good ammunition. For me they�re talking about pudding. Like is that really the best you�ve got?

Morgan: But now you�re not having pudding?

DeSantis: No, no. It's sugar man.

quote:

According to the report, DeSantis gobbled down a chocolate pudding cup snack cup using three of his fingers while on board a private plane to Washington D.C.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:14

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

cr0y posted:

Cool

I guess it's progress that he's referring to himself as no longer president?

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:16

Turgid Flagella: Mar 18, 2023

Dick Trauma posted:

People arrested protesting "Cop City" in Atlanta (including people arrested near the protest) are being denied bail as flight risks and threats to the community. Wet and muddy pants and shoes are being used as evidence that the person fled from police, which is evidence that they're too dangerous to be released on bail. Having a legal support information card on your person is also being used as evidence that bail should be denied.

We should expect that more and more forms of protest will be re-categorized as domestic terrorism so that the government can just lock anyone up forever who causes them any trouble.

This twitter thread has the details, and they're astonishing.

https://twitter.com/hannahcrileyy/status/1638896613450997760?s=20

This poo poo is absolutely terrifying.

I fear the lust for retribution for 1/6, and the dogged devotion to are boys in blue are going to create a great bipartisan foundation upon which the two nominally opposing parties can come together in unity to punish any and all organized protest.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:18

FCKGW: May 21, 2006

it�s legal to sound off about your lovely companies now

https://twitter.com/davidgerard/status/1639003120293515264?s=46&t=SGjc-kX_f4F_yldTowt91w

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:19

Failed Imagineer: Sep 22, 2018

A guy who eats pudding with his tongue and fingers is the candidate guaranteed to make your calves cramp

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:21

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

DeSantis has already issued a weird denial of that specific situation, but he seems weirdly guilty about it and answered it in the most suspicious way possible.

My "I didn't eat chocolate pudding with my fingers" shirt is raising a lot of questions already answered by my shirt...

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:24

the_steve: Nov 9, 2005; We're always hiring!

The real alpha move would have been to eat it with a hairclip like Klobuchar did. And then throw it at a staffer, like Klobuchar did.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:42

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

A Florida school board recently forced out its Principal because he allowed an art teacher to show a picture of Michelangelo's David statue to 8th grade kids during a lesson about classical art.

The head of the school board has given an absolutely insane interview with Slate defending their decision.

You really need to read the whole thing (In a shocking twist, he started his crusade after getting inspiration from DeSantis and the Florida legislature) to truly appreciate how bonkers it is.

It also makes it really clear that a lot of people are basically taking their marching orders (not literally, but getting the ideas to go on these crusades) from conservative media and Ron DeSantis.

quote:

An Interview With the School Board Chair Who Forced Out a Principal After Michelangelo�s David Was Shown in Class

On Thursday, the Tallahassee Democrat reported that the principal of a local charter school, the Tallahassee Classical School, was forced to resign after three parents complained about an art teacher showing a picture of Michelangelo�s 16th-century sculpture of David. �Parental rights are supreme, and that means protecting the interests of all parents, whether it�s one, 10, 20 or 50,� the chair of the school�s board, Barney Bishop III, told the paper. To figure out exactly how this happened, I called Bishop, who is also, according to his biography, a consultant, a lobbyist, an �outspoken advocate for the free enterprise system,� and an Eagle Scout. Our conversation has been edited for clarity.

quote:

Dan Kois: Why did the board make the decision to remove the principal of the school?

Barney Bishop III: Well, like all the reporters I�ve talked to today, the premise that you�re operating from is incorrect. We didn�t remove her. She resigned. She�s an at-will employee by contract, as are all our teachers. I went to her last week and offered her two letters. One was a voluntary resignation, and another a letter that said if she decided not to resign, I was going to ask the board to terminate her without cause. Without cause. We have the right to do that under the contract.

So it�s safe to say she resigned under pressure from the board.

No question.

So why did the board make that decision?

As I said in the Tallahassee Democrat, based on counsel from our employment lawyer, I�m not going to get into the reasons. But this wasn�t about that one issue. That�s not the entire truth, and she knows it. The fact is, I have been working with her since she became principal, and I have supported her as principal. But as I saw how things were going, how decisions were being made, I made the decision this was the best thing for the school.

You�re saying this wasn�t about an art teacher showing Michelangelo�s David.

We didn�t even discuss that issue at the special board meeting on Monday morning.

So the statue wasn�t part of the reason the board forced her to resign?

That was an issue, along with many others. Look, she wasn�t surprised. She knew what was the purpose of our meeting. She had two questions: Have you talked to the whole board, and how long do I have to decide between the two letters? The meeting was five minutes long. It wasn�t like �Oh, my God! You don�t want me at the school anymore?�

I think in this situation, some boards would say: We�re going to stand by the principal, the trained educator, as opposed to a handful of parents who have an issue. Why did you not go this way?

What issue do you believe people had?

That the statue was pornographic.

You�re operating from the wrong premise. The teacher mentioned that this was a nonpornographic picture, No. 1. The teacher said, �Don�t tell your parents,� No. 2. So the issue, Dan, isn�t whether children should see these pictures or not. Gosh, we�re a classical school. Why wouldn�t we show Renaissance art to children?

Yes, I had a question about that.

Did parents know in advance what children were going to see and hear and learn? Dan, 98 percent of the parents didn�t have a problem with it. But that doesn�t matter, because we didn�t follow a practice. We have a practice. Last year, the school sent out an advance notice about it. Parents should know: In class, students are going to see or hear or talk about this. This year, we didn�t send out that notice.

Just to be clear, last year you sent a notice to parents warning them that students were going to see Michelangelo�s David?

Yes. This year, we made an egregious mistake. We didn�t send that notice. Look, we�re not a public school. We�re a public charter. Parents, after they saw all the crap that�s being taught in public schools during COVID, decided of their own that they didn�t want their children to be taught that. Here we teach the Hillsdale Curriculum, focusing on civic and moral values. We teach a traditional, Western civilization, liberal classical education. And if there�s controversial topics or subjects, we tell parents in advance. We�re going to be sensitive to everybody at the school.

I tend to think of a classical education as being the mode in the 17th, 18th century, where you study the Greeks and Romans, and Western civilization is central. A tutor or teacher is the expert, and that teacher drives the curriculum. You�re describing something where it seems the parents drive the curriculum. How does your classical education differ from the classical education as I think of it?

What kind of question is that, Dan? I don�t know how they taught in the 17th, 18th century, and neither do you. You live in New York?

Virginia.

You�ve got a 212 number. That�s New York.

I lived in New York when I got the cellphone, many years ago. Now I live in Virginia.

Well, we�re Florida, OK? Parents will decide. Parents are the ones who are going to drive the education system here in Florida. The governor said that, and we�re with the governor. Parents don�t decide what is taught. But parents know what that curriculum is. And parents are entitled to know anytime their child is being taught a controversial topic and picture.

Parents choose this school because they want a certain kind of education. We�re not gonna have courses from the College Board. We�re not gonna teach 1619 or CRT crap. I know they do all that up in Virginia. The rights of parents, that trumps the rights of kids. Teachers are the experts? Teachers have all the knowledge? Are you kidding me? I know lots of teachers that are very good, but to suggest they are the authorities, you�re on better drugs than me.

How would the teachers at your school feel to hear you say they are not authorities?

Do you know what classical education is?

I know it in a historical context, but I guess not in the context you�re using it in.

The current context is about moral values, civic values, personal responsibility. Those are the things that aren�t being taught in schools. Along with history, science, math, art, music. We don�t have safe spaces for kids so they won�t be offended by a Halloween costume. We don�t use pronouns. We teach them phonics. We teach Singapore math. They learn to speak Latin. Every student learns a musical instrument. And by the way, a large number of our students are Title I, from poor families, underprivileged families. It�s not just rich white people. We don�t even pick our students; it�s a lottery. The mission of the school shows that standards are important�even poor people have standards.

You say you don�t have safe spaces for kids to be offended by, say, a Halloween costume, but aren�t you just protecting kids, giving them a safe space, from Michelangelo�s David?

Come on, Dan. That�s ridiculous.

It seems the same to me!

You�re determined to make this a story about David. You�re going to give it the mainstream media slant.

I�m running this as a Q&A, including everything I say and everything you say. Showing our disagreement. I�m not going to give it some spin, like �Here�s a crazy Republican.�

You�re going to be objective. That�s the job of a journalist.

Well, I have my opinion! But I�m trying to show your side as truthfully as possible.

Well, I�m dubious that�s what will happen.

You can text me and tell me how I did.

I will. Again, your premise is incorrect. We don�t have any problem showing David. You have to tell the parents ahead of time, and they can decide whether it is appropriate for their child to see it.

Have you heard from parents who disagree about forcing the principal to resign? Or are most of the parents in agreement with this decision?

We�ll hear from a lot of parents. We have a board meeting on Monday night, our general monthly meeting. We spent probably close to an hour listening to public comment this week, at the special meeting. My intent, and the board�s intent, is not to shut anybody down. There were people hollering for me to step down.

Were those people parents?

You�re not gonna hear from people who are happy about it. If they�re happy, they�re not going to speak at a public meeting. I�m certain the vast majority of parents have no problem with it. And again, no one has a problem with David. It�s not about David.

Three parents had a problem with David.

Three parents objected. Two objected simply because they weren�t told in advance. One objected because the teacher said nonpornography. Nonpornography�that�s a red flag. And of course telling the students, �Don�t tell your parents��that�s a huge red flag!

Wait, so the objection was just that the teacher used the word pornography in a sixth grade classroom?

Yes, that word is inappropriate in that classroom. No. 1, no one said it was pornography. No. 2, it�s not on the curriculum. No. 3, you don�t need to be saying that word in a classroom in Florida!

Look, here�s my opinion, and please tell me what you think of it. If I was an educator, I would never think that showing this extremely famous statue sculpted in the classical style, in a classical school, in a lesson about Renaissance art, would be, as you say, �controversial.� That it would require a letter to parents. Not to middle school students, not even to elementary school students! Is your goal to be more clear about what is and isn�t controversial?

Well, No. 1, yes, I appointed an ad hoc committee so we can see if everybody can come to some kind of consensus on this. No. 2, you�re a reporter, and I wouldn�t expect you to think like a teacher. Teachers are taught what�s controversial. The fact that this art teacher had the gumption to say that we need to send out a letter documents that. But the letter wasn�t sent out. And he didn�t check to make sure that it was sent out.

Wait, so the teacher requested one, but the principal didn�t send it out?

Yes. And he didn�t check. That was an egregious mistake, and we won�t make that mistake again.

I just don�t think this statue is controversial.

We�re not going to show the full statue of David to kindergartners. We�re not going to show him to second graders. Showing the entire statue of David is appropriate at some age. We�re going to figure out when that is.

And you don�t have to show the whole statue! Maybe to kindergartners we only show the head. You can appreciate that. You can show the hands, the arms, the muscles, the beautiful work Michelangelo did in marble, without showing the whole thing.

https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/03/florida-principal-fired-michelangelo-david-statue.html

Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 14:45 on Mar 24, 2023

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:43

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

8th graders are 13-14 years old. If you think they would be shocked and scarred by 500-year-old marble penis you really need to check their browser histories

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:46

Queering Wheel: Jun 18, 2011; [url=https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3876906]

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

DeSantis has already issued a weird denial of that specific situation, but he seems weirdly guilty about it and answered it in the most suspicious way possible.

lmao he totally did it. If you hadn't eaten pudding with your fingers you would just say "it never happened" and not "I don't remember doing that."

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:49

cr0y: Mar 24, 2005

haveblue posted:

8th graders are 13-14 years old. If you think they would be shocked and scarred by 500-year-old marble penis you really need to check their browser histories

That's why we need to ban porn, duh.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:55

Mellow Seas: Oct 9, 2012; Can't post for 10 years!

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

A Florida school board recently forced out its Principal because he allowed an art teacher to show a picture of Michelangelo's David statue to 8th grade kids during a lesson about classical art.

Hoooo, boy. When I heard it made me think about how just a slightly larger percentage of the population being made up of people like this would've turned us into literally Gilead. The Kids Are Alright so bullet dodged, I think. (The theocracy bullet, obviously we have many bullets left to dodge.)

Given the demographics here I probably don't have to tell y'all, but this is a literal "Simpsons" joke from 1990.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 14:59

Mellow Seas: Oct 9, 2012; Can't post for 10 years!

One kind of irrelevant thing I learned from the story is that the statue is over 5 meters tall. I thought it was like, half that. Pretty cool! (And kind of ironic, considering the subject matter!)

# ? Mar 24, 2023 15:00

Madkal: Feb 11, 2008; Fallen Rib

haveblue posted:

8th graders are 13-14 years old. If you think they would be shocked and scarred by 500-year-old marble penis you really need to check their browser histories

No no no. Their kids are perfect untarnished angels who are also not snowflakes who need safe spaces and that is why they need places where they can be safe from....artwork. Listen man. The parents understand. Who would you trust to teach your kids, a parent who knows what those liberals are really up to, or a teacher who is probably a groomer or some other word I don't understand but will shout out anyway. Oh yea, that reminds me.....woke!!!!

# ? Mar 24, 2023 15:21

Failed Imagineer: Sep 22, 2018

Mellow Seas posted:

One kind of irrelevant thing I learned from the story is that the statue is over 5 meters tall. I thought it was like, half that. Pretty cool! (And kind of ironic, considering the subject matter!)

When you go to the Uffizi and see it, yeah it's big as hell and pretty awe-inspiring up close.

The dick is still small though

# ? Mar 24, 2023 15:28

Fell Fire: Jan 30, 2012

From the interview (and working in a school with the same education model for three years) the issue isn't so much that the kids will be scarred from seeing all of David. Some will absolutely be shocked or feel awkward. That's just normal at that age, not everyone has had that kind of search inquiry yet and even if they have, seeing nudity in a school setting is different.

The issue was that parents complain and make a big deal out of it. Then they pull their kids from the school and the funding along with them. Running a school like a business, where what you teach is as bland as possible to get the largest student population is a problem with non-public schools.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 15:55

KillHour: Oct 28, 2007

Mellow Seas posted:

One kind of irrelevant thing I learned from the story is that the statue is over 5 meters tall. I thought it was like, half that. Pretty cool! (And kind of ironic, considering the subject matter!)

There's a full scale bronze replica like 10 minutes from me literally next to a busy expressway in the city's busiest park. It's been there since 1900.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:08

CuddleCryptid: Jan 11, 2013; Things could be going better

Can't have real sex ed. Can't even talk about sex at all. Can't even see an artistic masterpiece at 14 years old because it has a tiny penis on it. But you're expected to be married and having kids before you're 20, thus guaranteeing that your first time having sex is the most terrifying and traumatizing experience of your life.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:08

Bar Ran Dun: Jan 22, 2006

It�s clearly about school boards, which are small low participation elections that can be targeted by money, being able to fire anybody they want for any reason to force social control and thus conservatives parents being able to get anybody they want fired.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:12

KillHour: Oct 28, 2007

CuddleCryptid posted:

Can't have real sex ed. Can't even talk about sex at all. Can't even see an artistic masterpiece at 14 years old because it has a tiny penis on it. But you're expected to be married and having kids before you're 20, thus guaranteeing that your first time having sex is the most terrifying and traumatizing experience of your life.

If your experience with sex is terrifying and traumatizing, of course you're going to try to hide your kids from it at all costs (until you force them to do it so you can have grandkids). And thus the cycle continues.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:15

Fister Roboto: Feb 21, 2008

I think another big part of it is that they don't want to teach kids that people in the past thought about sex at all. Lots of Renaissance art was pretty horny (actually all art from all eras has been extremely horny), and people being aware of that destroys their narrative that sex is some kind of modern degeneracy. It's also ironic that they want to prop up these artists as paragon of "western" (white) culture, but no not those parts.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:18

Main Paineframe: Oct 27, 2010

haveblue posted:

8th graders are 13-14 years old. If you think they would be shocked and scarred by 500-year-old marble penis you really need to check their browser histories

I think he's pretty clear there that he's not thinking about the kids at all - he's worried about the parents.

quote:

I think in this situation, some boards would say: We’re going to stand by the principal, the trained educator, as opposed to a handful of parents who have an issue. Why did you not go this way?

What issue do you believe people had?

That the statue was pornographic.

You’re operating from the wrong premise. The teacher mentioned that this was a nonpornographic picture, No. 1. The teacher said, “Don’t tell your parents,” No. 2. So the issue, Dan, isn’t whether children should see these pictures or not. Gosh, we’re a classical school. Why wouldn’t we show Renaissance art to children?

Yes, I had a question about that.

Did parents know in advance what children were going to see and hear and learn? Dan, 98 percent of the parents didn’t have a problem with it. But that doesn’t matter, because we didn’t follow a practice. We have a practice. Last year, the school sent out an advance notice about it. Parents should know: In class, students are going to see or hear or talk about this. This year, we didn’t send out that notice.

Just to be clear, last year you sent a notice to parents warning them that students were going to see Michelangelo’s David?

Yes. This year, we made an egregious mistake. We didn’t send that notice. Look, we’re not a public school. We’re a public charter. Parents, after they saw all the crap that’s being taught in public schools during COVID, decided of their own that they didn’t want their children to be taught that. Here we teach the Hillsdale Curriculum, focusing on civic and moral values. We teach a traditional, Western civilization, liberal classical education. And if there’s controversial topics or subjects, we tell parents in advance. We’re going to be sensitive to everybody at the school.

quote:

Three parents had a problem with David.

Three parents objected. Two objected simply because they weren’t told in advance. One objected because the teacher said nonpornography. Nonpornography—that’s a red flag. And of course telling the students, “Don’t tell your parents”—that’s a huge red flag!

Wait, so the objection was just that the teacher used the word pornography in a sixth grade classroom?

Yes, that word is inappropriate in that classroom. No. 1, no one said it was pornography. No. 2, it’s not on the curriculum. No. 3, you don’t need to be saying that word in a classroom in Florida!

The whole interview really is worth reading, because the guy doesn't really bother to lie very much - he's unusually honest about where his real concerns lie and why, among other things.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:29

GlyphGryph: Jun 23, 2013; Down came the glitches and burned us in ditches and we slept after eating our dead.

Specifically he's concerned about the parents who might have a problem with the "controversial" content and absolutely unconcerned with any parents that might have a problem with his own controversial decision.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:34

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Utah is implementing a "digital curfew" for minors on social media.

I don't really know much about the tech side of this, but it seems like it will be wildly difficult to actually enforce and a VPN will render the entire thing null.

https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1639018016892686336

quote:

Utah governor signs laws requiring parents' consent for minors to use social media

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed two pieces of sweeping social media regulation into law Thursday that require social media companies to get parental consent for minors using their services, making Utah the first state to impose such measures in the U.S.

Versions of the regulations are being considered in four other states and in several federal proposals in Congress.

The new Utah laws � H.B. 311 and S.B. 152 � require that social media companies verify the age of any Utah resident who makes a social media profile and get parental consent for any minor who wishes to make a profile. They also force social media companies to allow parents to access posts and messages from their child�s account.

The laws also prohibit social media companies from displaying ads to minors, showing minor accounts in search results, collecting information about minors, targeting or suggesting content to minors, or knowingly integrating addictive technologies into social media apps used by minors. They also impose a curfew on the use of social media for minors, locking them out of their social media accounts between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. based on the location of a user�s device, unless adjusted with the consent of a parent.

Utah�s laws come amid ongoing debates about the impact of social media on young people�s mental health, a link that is widely theorized but remains the subject of academic study. Mental health issues among young people have been labeled a crisis, with particular concerns about the mental health of young women.

Social media companies have until March 1, 2024, to comply with the laws, at which point they become punishable with potential civil and criminal penalties.

In interviews with NBC News, sponsors of the legislation said that they were motivated by mental health concerns posed by social media use among young people, and that they hope Utah�s new laws serve as inspiration for other states or for Congress.

�I don�t think we�ve ever seen a time in American history where mental health has been so problematic,� said Utah state Sen. Michael McKell. �I hope we see action across the nation.�

McKell said the Utah bills were home-brewed legislation developed in a working group over the last year.

State Rep. Jordan Teuscher, who co-sponsored one of the Utah bills, said the group heard from representatives and lobbyists from major social media companies like Google and TikTok.

�As you can imagine, the social media companies hired almost all of the major lobbyists in Utah to try to affect the bill,� he said. �They were not very successful in deterring us from our objectives.�

In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said: �We want teens to be safe online. We�ve developed more than 30 tools to support teens and families, including tools that let parents and teens work together to limit the amount of time teens spend on Instagram, and age verification technology that helps teens have age-appropriate experiences. We automatically set teens� accounts to private when they join Instagram, and we send notifications encouraging them to take regular breaks.� The spokesperson added, �We�ll continue to work closely with experts, policymakers and parents on these important issues.�

Critics of the laws say that they are a form of government overreach that will have effects outside the borders of the state.

�There�s no way for a platform to know who is or isn�t a full-time Utah resident,� said Ari Cohn, free speech counsel for the tech policy think tank TechFreedom. Cohn said it�s unfeasible to think that social media companies could parse out Utah residents from visitors to the state, or nearby users connecting to the internet via cellphone data networks.

�The only way the platforms can ensure full compliance will be by actually age verifying everyone,� he said. �And that�s the problem with the state-level bills like this, is that they basically regulate the internet for everyone.�

Cohn added that age verification poses a major risk for security and speech online.

�Age verifying everyone means you no longer have an ability to be anonymous online on social media,� he said. �Think about all the ways that social media is used to criticize powerful people, elected officials, tyrannical governments, or what have you, without fear of retribution.�

Cohn also noted that not every child lives in a nurturing household, and that allowing parents access to kids� social media history could lead to potential abuse.

The policies, Cohn said, could even create equity issues by potentially locking out kids whose parents aren�t readily available to provide consent.

Teuscher said the considerations don�t outweigh his priority of child mental health.

�When we see hockey stick increases in mental health issues, there is a role of government to step in and say, �Hey, is there something that we need to do to protect the health of our citizens and especially the health of minors,�� he said.

So far Utah is the only state to have passed such regulations, which potentially open the door for social media companies to shut out users from the state if the companies aren�t willing to comply with the rules.

Outside of Utah, legislation that includes social media parental consent for some minors is being considered in four states: Ohio, Minnesota, Connecticut and Arkansas.

Currently there is no central organization providing draft language to the states, so each state is considering slightly different rules with which social media companies would need to comply. Several of the states, for instance, would only require parental consent for children under age 16.

McKell said those potential differences could actually be a good thing.

�That�ll force Congress to the table,� he said.

There are currently two pieces of legislation in Congress that would restrict minor access to social media. If signed into law, they would create minimum ages for social media use, without the option of parental consent.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:34

CuddleCryptid: Jan 11, 2013; Things could be going better

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Utah is implementing a "digital curfew" for minors on social media.

I don't really know much about the tech side of this, but it seems like it will be wildly difficult to actually enforce and a VPN will render the entire thing null.

https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1639018016892686336

So what's more likely

1) Meta implements a custom system where every single user's age and familial history has to be legally verified and new accounts have to be tied to other accounts in a way where they can be watched and reviewed. They also need to track the local time zone and make sure that those (and only those) special supervised accounts get switched off and on again.

Or

2) Utah doesn't get to use Facebook anymore.

I don't think Twitter even has the ability to make this change right now.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:38

Bar Ran Dun: Jan 22, 2006

GlyphGryph posted:

Specifically he's concerned about the parents who might have a problem with the "controversial" content and absolutely unconcerned with any parents that might have a problem with his own controversial decision.

It�s about giving that small sliver control over the entire thing.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:38

Aztec Galactus: Sep 12, 2002

CuddleCryptid posted:

So what's more likely

1) Meta implements a custom system where every single user's age and familial history has to be legally verified and new accounts have to be tied to other accounts in a way where they can be watched and reviewed. They also need to track the local time zone and make sure that those (and only those) special supervised accounts get switched off and on again

Or

2) Utah doesn't get to use Facebook anymore.

I don't think Twitter even has the ability to make this change right now.

The 12 teenagers who live in Utah have already installed VPNs, and none of the people who wrote this bill know what that means

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:44

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# ? Jun 8, 2024 16:59

lobster shirt: Jun 14, 2021

banning tech companies from showing ads to children is a great idea

# ? Mar 24, 2023 16:45

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USCE Winter 2023: change thread titles constantly, almost on a daily basis

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