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UK.gov to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

theregister.com

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Re: UK.gov to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

#3
In pre-Brexit Britain we were promised less friction on the internet because we wouldn't have to accept cookies [1].

Who would have thought there would be more friction for just about every part of British life? /s

[1] https://preprod.metro.co.uk/2021/08/27/no-more-cookie-pop-up...

Re: UK.gov to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

#4

What could possibly go wrong... I don't expect Facebook or TikTok to oppose this very much, having credit cards on file is conveniently closer to making more money.

> having credit cards on file is conveniently closer to making more money

It will be a drastic change to pivot the company from one where the customer is the product to the customer.

Credit card input also introduces friction and bounce rate of user signup. This would hurt Facebook's user growth and MAU KPIs

Re: UK.gov to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

#5
For Facebook or TikTok it's a sensible move because they are social networks trying to connect natural persons. Not just child protection as mentioned in the article but ecommerce scams, misinformation, catfishing or botting would be cut down if you could verify that the online identity represents who it claims it does.

It would be good though if there is some identity standard across platforms rather than the existing patchwork solutions that exclude people without say, credit cards. Digital ID systems like in South Korea or Taiwan seem good because they're uniform across the country and comparable to national ids.

Re: UK.gov to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

#6
post #4

What could possibly go wrong... I don't expect Facebook or TikTok to oppose this very much, having credit cards on file is conveniently closer to making more money.

> having credit cards on file is conveniently closer to making more money It will be a drastic change to pivot the company from one where the customer is the product to the customer. Credit card input also introduces friction and bounce rate of user signup. This would hurt Facebook's user growth and MAU KPIs

People already make accounts with phone numbers, I suspect credit cards won't be different.

Re: UK.gov to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

#7

What could possibly go wrong... I don't expect Facebook or TikTok to oppose this very much, having credit cards on file is conveniently closer to making more money.

I'm not so sure. I think Facebook might oppose it on the grounds that there are large numbers of people on the cusp who may just abandon Facebook if they have to give their credit card details. Facebook is already haemorrhaging users, I don't think they will want any friction that may lose them more.

Re: UK.gov to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

#8
post #3

In pre-Brexit Britain we were promised less friction on the internet because we wouldn't have to accept cookies [1]. Who would have thought there would be more friction for just about every part of British life? /s [1] https://preprod.metro.co.uk/2021/08/27/no-more-cookie-pop-up...

I get your dislike of Brexit (and such sentiments get votes on HN) but this isn’t ‘friction because of Brexit’ - a post Brexit government could choose to not do this at all, or choose to implement something better.

It’s just an implementation of a crappy idea by a crappy government.

Re: UK.gov to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

#9
post #3

In pre-Brexit Britain we were promised less friction on the internet because we wouldn't have to accept cookies [1]. Who would have thought there would be more friction for just about every part of British life? /s [1] https://preprod.metro.co.uk/2021/08/27/no-more-cookie-pop-up...

Hah the irony of clicking that link!
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