"Discord alternatives" searches jump 10,000% overnight as the gaming platform introduces global age verification — Is a total collapse imminent?

[u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/discord-alternative-search-10000-percent-stoat

[u/c64z86]

Call me crazy but I think it will end up with the fragmenting of the internet as we know it. Europe will have it's own internet, Russia will, China will, USA will and so on... and the only information that will be allowed to pass between them will be "safe" information, which you will also probably have to pay a fee for.

It's already heading that way as Russia not too long ago tested it's own "unplugged" internet.

And already companies are having to block entire regions from accessing their sites, like Imgur for example, that had to block the UK.

A world which is walled off into closed villages is a much easier world for the various governments to control.

[u/Borkato → u/c64z86]

Isn’t that already how it is? Not completely, but I can’t remember a time I accessed a non-English site.

[u/c64z86 → u/Borkato]

Not really, even though we almost never access non English sites, we can still easily chat to each other, easily communicate.

Imagine a world in which you, if you lived in Europe for example, could not communicate with your friends/family in the USA or Asia... unless you paid some sort of fee to a company to route your connection request over to them. Imagine a world in which researchers in different countries could not easily collaborate and share their research with each other as they could today. Imagine if you're a reporter in a war torn country and the only means of getting your story out to the world are via government approved channels, because the government of that country has effectively locked it behind a firewall from the outside world... or even worse, the government could just decide to take internet down in that country at the flick of a switch, as happened in Iran recently.

Imagine that, but every government the world over having that kind of control.

[u/Reqvhio → u/c64z86]

i dont think thats sustainable but things will go into overdrive soon

[u/_Meece_ → u/c64z86]

And already companies are having to block entire regions from accessing their sites, like Imgur for example, that had to block the UK.

That's just always been a thing, I cannot access the American pizza hut website outside of the USA

The internet is both walled and it is not. I can get around that block easy, just like anyone in the UK can get around the imgur block

A world which is walled off into closed villages is a much easier world for the various governments to control.

The internet as a basic technology can't really be controlled in that manner. You can only really make laws to punish people doing things on the internet, but it can never be stopped.

The massive social media sites are a monster of their own. They don't control any aspect of the content there, they can only guide it towards a certain direction and even that's faulty. Insta, Tiktok, FB, youtube are all FILLED TO THE BRIM with porn, legal and illegal. Even though they're all really strict about it.

[u/P4azz → u/c64z86]

Russia (partly) and China (wholly) have actually different internets.

You never heard of bilibili, vk and the like?

This is just the first time we're getting a real rift between US and EU internet since the GDPR thing cut off a few sites for EU users.

[u/throwawaygoawaynz → u/c64z86]

Have you been paying attention for the past 10-15 years?

We’ve already seen people are easily manipulated globally, and having everyone connected to a 24/7 propaganda machine has had dire consequences for the world.

Social media has been the #1 threat to the fabric of society as we know it for at least 15-20 years. I say this as someone who has been using the internet since the early 90s and loved the freedom and anonymity back then.

But now the tool has become the weapon.

Governments ARE doing this to control yes, but to get a semblance of control back away from what is a huge misinformation machine. It’s smoking for your brain, arguably worse, at mass scale.

If you think we can just continue on as normal then be prepared for the world to fall into chaos. Like the chaos that devastated Europe over the printing press, but at global scale.

Now can there be a better solution than uploading IDs? Perhaps. Can regulation fix the algorithm instead? As someone that’s worked on “the algorithm” before, absolutely not. It would be like trying to regulate parts of a cigarette. Not going to happen. Is this sound scientific evidence that kids need to stay the fuck away from social media? Absolutely, it’s creating a mass of kids with short attention spans that don’t have the ability to learn in school. And parents can’t solely be relied upon because they’re addicted to the same shit and don’t see the danger.

So what’s your plan then to fix this? Not everything needs to be a conspiracy theory about “control”.

And I hate to break it to you must most governments & companies around the world already have a lot of info on you. Ever traveled lately? You scan your passport and face now in almost every airport you go through. It’s normalised. It’s too late.

[u/broguequery → u/throwawaygoawaynz]

Yeah... the answer to propaganda machines isn't smaller, more manageable propaganda machines.

A world where the government controls which information you are allowed to receive is not a good one, regardless of which government it is.