On August 13, Youtube will begin to implement a system that will scan each and every Youtube account and attempt to infer the age of the user based off of the content they watch and search for, regardless of what you entered in as your age. This is being done in the name of "protecting kids." Obviously, kids should be protected online, but cracks start to show in this plan when you look under the hood. Actually, that's lie... it's pretty blatantly terrible. For  starters, Youtube Kids exists. Why would you push this out for the main site when a site already dedicated to children exists? Secondly, AI is not foolproof, and makes mistakes. Why would you trust an AI with such privilege? Well, I guess I should tell you what happens if you get flagged as a minor by the AI first. You will not be able to view content deemed as "adult content." If you're a creator, like me, you won't be able to monetize your channel or have access to certain tools such as creating livestreams. If you do get flagged wrongly, you are forced to give Youtube a government-issued ID or your credit card. I shouldn't need to explain why this is a terrible idea any further. 

This has the potential to ruin people's lives and jobs.

If we can use our voice here, then it will pave the way to reverting the mass government censorship of the internet. We must not be silent, or we risk ushering in authoritarianism.

#StopAugust13