“Better” and “more acceptable” are very subjective.

If you’re asking me what I think, I think a solution that verifies identity is uncalled for. I think the problem, though real, is also greatly exaggerated and mostly caused by a failure of platforms to moderate (Roblox, for example).

Companies don’t want to moderate their platforms because that costs money. Developers need to add the reporting functionality and paid staff need to review and action the reports. I think this is one reason tech companies are so interested in AI; automated moderation. But, AI still requires compute power, which is still a cost.

If tech companies can claim handing over your ID will solve the problem, they get that sweet private info they want so badly for free, AND they get a cost-free way of claiming their platform is moderated; it’s a double win.

I think requiring platforms to moderate themselves with humans is a very small price to pay in exchange for the broad access to our private data and hundreds of billions of dollars of advertising revenue they enjoy, and a much better, much more acceptable solution.

Edit: Just remembered, another big component to all this is, big platforms like Meta and Reddit are getting hammered by AI scrapers, which drives up hosting costs, and being bombarded with AI slop, which negatively affects their engagement KPIs. ID verification will solve both of these problems.

It’s pathetic because, the only time laws or regulations ever get passed is when one oligarch wants to weaponize the government against their competition. It’s a sick game, and we all lose every time a move is made.