I'm writing this post at around Midnight, August 13th, 2025, the supposed "calm before the storm" as you'd call it. Later today I would presume YouTube will be rolling out their AI system to detect if you're under 18. And to say I'm not worried would be lying to myself and others around me, I'm terrified at what the internet is slowly molding into. An internet of de-anonymization, AI slop content, and most worryingly censorship.
None of my friends seem to care really, I'm the only one who seems to recognize the writing on the wall. Keep in mind I did attempt to warn them about it, I sent some info about the UK's online safety act bill to our Discord server and expressed concern about a similar bill coming to the US. I suggested that they take steps towards alternative platforms in case of the worst case scenario, hell I even provided links and suggestions off the top of my head. I like to think I didn't come off aggressive, but I 100% came off paranoid. And I think I was paranoid for a good reason, if something like what is happening in the UK happens over here then what?
The worst part of all this was their solution in case Discord required ID verification was to make an Instagram group chat with all of us in it. They shrugged what I said off as a "schizophrenic rant and dooming" and went back to discussing god knows what, I got so mad that night I stopped looking at the server. And now supposedly the test run for ID verification and censorship hits later today, who knows how they'll react if the rumors are actually true.
I guess in a way I've made peace with losing a lot of luxury if the worst case scenario were to occur. That includes losing contact with those friends I guess, because they don't want to listen, hell they'll gladly hand over their ID if anything starts requiring it. They'll become apart of the problem because they were mildly inconvenienced. It makes me mad thinking about it. Please, reader, don't be like them. Have a little integrity and don't give into the system they are desperately attempting to force onto us. Nobody can be 100% sure of the scale if it were to happen, but it's far beyond what even I can personally account for.
Get a VPN, learn how to torrent, figure out how TOR and I2P work. Take any steps possible to not get locked out of everything. Don't be part of those who don't want to conform but never learned how to rebel. Don't be like my friends, basically.