Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act • Hacker News Board

Re: Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act

#11

Post by turbinemonkey » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 11:31 AM UTC

Terr_ wrote: post #4

Oh look, the Heritage Foundation, the ones who wrote up the "Project 2025" agenda for most of the corruption and authoritarianism that has plagued America in the last year. The very last people you should trust when it comes to "protecting the children."

Heritage has been laying waste to America my whole life. They basically planned all of Reagan's legislative agenda, too, just like Project 2025 is doing today. In very real ways, they and their vision are America (a system is what it does, not what it says it does).

Re: Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act

#12

Post by tasuki » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 11:31 AM UTC

cosmos0072 wrote: post #5

jwr wrote: post #2

I am now waiting for Gruber (daringfireball.net) to post another rant about how terrible EU regulation is. Zero-knowledge proofs are the way to go for this type of thing, I find it mind-boggling that the US lets itself be bamboozled into complete lack of privacy.

I am from EU, and contrary to age verification laws in general. My stance is that if somebody is a minor, his/her/their parents/tutors/legal guardian are responsible for what they can/cannot do online, and that the mechanism to enforce that is parental control on devices. Having said that, open-source zero-knowledge proofs are infinitely less evil (I refuse to say "better") than commercial cloud-based age monitoring…

> My stance is that if somebody is a minor, his/her/their parents/tutors/legal guardian are responsible for what they can/cannot do online

As a parent, sure, that is my stance as well. What... what other stances are there even? How would they work?

Re: Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act

#13

Post by chongli » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 11:33 AM UTC

Chance-Device wrote: post #7

TLDR: Meta want to push all the age verification requirements onto the OS makers (Apple, Google, everyone else gets caught in the crossfire) so that they don’t have to do anything AND they want it done in such a way that they can use it to profile people to push them targeted ads. Its like they want to keep being seen as the bad guys.

I think this is also a way of getting ahead of any “ban social media for teens and preteens” bills that might pop up in the US. They do not want repeats of Australia! By adding age verification into the operating system they can deflect responsibility but also respond to legislators with a scalpel rather than getting sledge-hammered.

Re: Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act

#14

Post by cosmos0072 » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 11:34 AM UTC

croes wrote: post #10

cosmos0072 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am from EU, and contrary to age verification laws in general. My stance is that if somebody is a minor, his/her/their parents/tutors/legal guardian are responsible for what they can/cannot do online, and that the mechanism to enforce that is parental control on devices. Having said that, open-source zero-knowledge proofs are infinitely less evil (I refuse to say "better") than commercial cloud-based age monitoring…

You could make the same case for parental control as evil. "You‘re reading about evolution! Not in my house"

Parents already have a lot of control on children' education.

Examples: most children believe in the same religion as their parents, and can visit friends and places only if/when allowed by their parents.

This is simply extending the same level of control to the internet.

Government-mandated restrictions are completely another level.

Re: Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act

#15

Post by wil421 » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 11:38 AM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #8

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #3

Not surprisingly, Meta is possibly the worst "offender" behind funding of these campaigns.

I’m curious why Meta would benefit. Meta seems wholly unnecessary, the verification can be done at the OS level, completely in the hands of Apple/Alphabet and maybe Microsoft. If anything, Meta’s utility would seem to shrink if the OS handles proof of being a real person.

Liability and they probably want whatever blob of bits they use to identify you from the OS.

Re: Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act

#16

Post by nobodyandproud » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 11:39 AM UTC

Jesus. As an American I can do my part, but it’s not much.

$70 million is chump change for Meta, yet is far more money than I’ll ever have and does so much to influence state legislation.

Re: Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act

#17

Post by negroesrnegro » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 11:39 AM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #8

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #3

Not surprisingly, Meta is possibly the worst "offender" behind funding of these campaigns.

I’m curious why Meta would benefit. Meta seems wholly unnecessary, the verification can be done at the OS level, completely in the hands of Apple/Alphabet and maybe Microsoft. If anything, Meta’s utility would seem to shrink if the OS handles proof of being a real person.

because upstart competitors cant afford the verification process / lobbying efforts next instagram wont be bought out, it cant even begin to exist

Re: Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act

#18

Post by pjc50 » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 11:41 AM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #8

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #3

Not surprisingly, Meta is possibly the worst "offender" behind funding of these campaigns.

I’m curious why Meta would benefit. Meta seems wholly unnecessary, the verification can be done at the OS level, completely in the hands of Apple/Alphabet and maybe Microsoft. If anything, Meta’s utility would seem to shrink if the OS handles proof of being a real person.

Meta get to impose verified ID on everyone and link it to their advertisers, AND kill competing networks.

Re: Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act

#19

Post by close04 » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 11:42 AM UTC

This truly is the best democracy money can buy. As long as money and/or favors change hands in exchange for getting favorable laws passed, it's just legalized bribery and buying off your own "democracy".

And it snowballs, the more favorable laws someone buys, the more favorable their position, and the more they can buy in the future. The transition from "democratic facade" to "outright oligarchy" will be swift and seamless.

Re: Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability Act

#20

Post by c0balt » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 11:43 AM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #8

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #3

Not surprisingly, Meta is possibly the worst "offender" behind funding of these campaigns.

I’m curious why Meta would benefit. Meta seems wholly unnecessary, the verification can be done at the OS level, completely in the hands of Apple/Alphabet and maybe Microsoft. If anything, Meta’s utility would seem to shrink if the OS handles proof of being a real person.

Regulatory capture through a higher barrier to entry. Any social media platform that wants to compete with Meta's portfolio will now also need to have an age-verification system in place (which is guaranteed to introduce higher costs). Meta can likely afford to eat the costs here as a tradeoff for the higher impact on smaller players.

It also gives them more information on users as a bonus. Further, verification with a real ID is also a quite effective barrier against excessive bots.