Concerns about the internet’s impact on children are becoming harder for policymakers to ignore. According to the report, more countries are moving toward strict age verification rules or direct restrictions on minors, while in the United States the House recently approved the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act. A Pew Research Center survey released shortly afterward found that more than half of U.S. respondents supported banning social media for people under 16. The result is a growing sense that online life has become a public health problem requiring forceful action.
But the argument made in the piece is that keeping children away from the internet is only one path, and not necessarily the best one. A different approach would be to make parts of the web genuinely better for young users by funding them directly. The proposal is straightforward in concept: impose a tax on major technology companies and use the proceeds to support a “children’s public internet,” a network of nonprofit services designed primarily for kids.
What a children’s public internet could look like
The idea is not to create a completely isolated digital system. Instead, it borrows from earlier public-interest models such as children’s public television and from proposals for a publicly supported “lane” on the information superhighway. Under this framework, grants would go to new or existing online services that mainly serve children and do not operate for profit.
The article points to a wide range of possibilities. These could include a library-run social network for young people, an open-source version of Roblox without monetization, or a child- and teen-appropriate news and educational site without ads. Other examples include tools for reverse age verification that work with schools or government agencies while limiting privacy risks, local web portals that promote family activities nearby, and volunteer-moderated forums for kids interested in crafts. The services could be built by institutions or individuals, maintained by adults or minors, and aimed at small communities or broad audiences.
In the end, the proposal reflects a larger policy question now facing media, telecom, and communications regulators: whether the answer to harmful online experiences for children should be exclusion, or investment in better public digital spaces. The article argues that if governments are serious about improving the online environment for young people, they should consider building it rather than only trying to shut it out.
Source: theverge.com
