u/GabeReddit2012

As a a former member of r youthrights. I am here to speak out against that subreddit. I am honestly disgusted with that subreddit, and it really is awful.

That subreddit is almost entirely full of pdfs who want teenagers to do age-inappropriate things and even date older adults. They think that teenagers aren't children at all anymore and should be treated as adults, heck, I even saw a post on there saying teens are biological adults (which doesn't seem that true to me), and laws are supposed to not be based on biology. That is ABSOLUTELY disgusting and should not be a thing.

And these people claiming to be teens are most likely older adults. Anytime you call them out, they will call you "ageist" or "fascist" so they will brainwash you into an actually ageist viewpoint (they tend to be ageist against older people, ironically). They are an echo chamber. I really hate that subreddit. I only joined there once because I wanted to speak out against the digital ID laws, age verifications, social media bans for minors, etc. but I left after realizing they were horrible people. As someone who really cares a lot about privacy and tends to empathize with those who oppose these laws, I also oppose digital IDs and age verifications. However, I do not go on that subreddit anymore and deleted all of my comments and posts from there because I realized they were truly abominable people.

Screw the people on r youthrights, screw these PDFs. There's probably no true youth on there, and it's not being used for "youth rights".

So you may've heard of NetChoice, a company that strongly opposes digital ID verification laws, government-enforced Internet/social media bans for minors, laws that would allow governments to literally see on things like emails, etc., right? The good news is, they've struck down tons of existing age verification laws in the states, some have even gotten repealed entirely. For instance, they've blocked laws in locations such as Arkansas, Ohio, and Louisiana.

The bad news is that they are not global. Because of this, while the US age verification, digital ID, etc. laws can still fail to pass or get struck down, other countries are free to pass their laws even with mass opposition. There are only few groups like NetChoice in other countries (Digital Freedom Project in Australia for example, but they sadly have not been active in a few months, they wanted to sue Australia over their digital ID law, but appears to currently be inactive), so this is why other countries tend to easily pass other privacy-concerning laws. The also bad news is that some governments still want to keep the laws anyway and for instance, in some states like Tennessee for example, they were able to let the laws go into effect anyway despite NetChoice challenges. But that doesn't mean a group like NetChoice is completely incapable of stopping laws; they can with the proper and necessary effort, and sometimes, governments may actually listen. If you want to know, search up NetChoice and know their over 25 year history of trying to protect us Internet users from government control. They don't just oppose stuff like KOSA, the SCREEN Act, or any US censorship law you can think of, they even oppose other similar global laws, such as the UK Online Safety Act 2023 in the United Kingdom for example, but they are unfortunately unable to do anything about it since they're a US organization.

We need more groups like and similar to NetChoice in other countries. NetChoice has been fighting for Internet privacy and freedom protection since 2001, 25 years ago. If other groups like this pop up worldwide, we may be able to stop other Internet censorship laws from passing or even get them struck down. Even if they still want to make it go into effect, we can at least have the laws temporarily halted.

NetChoice is actually able to get such censorship laws struck down and even repealed, and suing governments for their laws, but unfortunately, they are only capable of doing this in the United States. There needs to be other organizations that can do this in other countries.

Governments should be focusing on privacy-preserving solutions that can actually keep minors safe online without invading anyone's privacy or freedom of anything at all, not fundamentally flawed solutions that are more of control and prohibition mandates.

While sadly, we aren't able to stop all of these censorship laws, we can try with our own effort. Support companies and people who oppose such laws, and stop supporting people and companies who support or even push for these laws such as Meta and OpenAI. Stop donating to charities or companies who support such laws and use fundraisers as an excuse to generate more profit. We need more groups like NetChoice who may actually be capable of suing other governments around the globe for these laws.

If you are aware of a NetChoice-like group in something like the United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, or other countries, please tell me down below.

As stated by u/beatrovert, one of the most prominent privacy advocates on this sub, "Education, not prohibition".

Does anyone remember using Yahoo or AOL's internet service in the 1990s or early 2000s? And around the time laws such as COPPA and others were proposed in the United States, nobody asked a digital ID for any type of content, even NSFW, on stuff like Yahoo or AOL.

And who remembers using MySpace, once the main social networking platform, back in the day, around 2006-2009? They never implemented a digital ID verification system. And even when it was under controversy for child safety, there weren't much calls back then for digital ID verification, people wanted MySpace to make the site safer for minors or remind parents to let their kids on alternatives like Facebook for instance, as they were meant to be safer. And not even other early MMO gaming platforms (think ToonTown or Club Penguin) implemented a digital ID for verifying everyone on there either. Apparently there seems to have been fewer age verification laws from about 2009-2021.

It's crazy how 5, 10, or even 20 years ago, when it was still theoretically possible, that we had much more privacy back then, but yet everyone now wants government-enforced controls to instead interfere with Internet usage to literally "protect the kids/minors".

So from what I've heard, a while back, the FTC decided that age verification (both IDs and faces) would be exempt from COPPA violations, apparently because the data is only determined to "see the user's age" (yet they require a ID with other personal info like your address and whatsoever), the data should be removed as soon after the verification (pretty ironic, many companies actually store data for longer periods), the data shouldn't be shared with third-parties (they can get breached easily to third-parties) and that they should ensure privacy notices about age verification (yet it doesn't even respect privacy)

I find all four of the points from the FTC nonsensical and outright stupid. The data won't show just their age, but also other info like your address, location, mobile number, etc. because you are showing your other personal info with an ID. And the fact they say it can get deleted fast is obviously false, I've seen countless times of AV providers actually keeping the data rather thaan deleting it. And the data can definitely be shared with third parties, what even is FTC thinking.

Digital ID/face verification should ideally be a COPPA/GDPR violation. Companies are not supposed to be collecting data of minors without parental consent as far as I am aware. I'm honestly shocked how the FTC has made it an exemption so that more laws can pass. And even worse, they are proposing KOSA and COPPA 2.0, both of which would apparently require a digital ID. Why won't lawmakers treat it as a violation?

Edit: I have seen companies like YouTube actually get sued for collecting children's data, and I've seen AV providers who collect user data get sued for the First Amendment, but ironically not COPPA or any similar law that is meant to protect the privacy and data of children.

Before starting this off, it is important to clarify that I am not inherently against youth rights (the movement) per se, I am against the so-called subreddit called r youthrights. While it seems like a innocuous subreddit at first, it is actually a dangerous cult hidden behind a "safe" facade. I am a teenager (yes, a teenager) who is a former member of the subreddit and I speak out against dangerous or bad people, and this is one of those people.

Starting off my personal story, I actually briefly joined the subreddit in summer 2025 because of the ID age verification laws and the heavy Internet censorship that governments worldwide have been pushing for, which includes the KOSA in the USA, the UK Online Safety Act, Australia's Online Safety Act and their social media ban that requires ID for platforms, and multiple other laws. However, upon realizing the subreddit was actually not as good as it seemed like, I left. At first, my concerns were how the people were acting there and the fact they wanted children and teens to engage in activities that really don't suit their age, but upon further research, I realized they were actually worse than I thought. This will explain why it is a horrible subreddit that is not about youth rights, but more of a cult space for predators to engage in. I would also like to give a shoutout to the heroes and brave people on here, such as u/SelectAd6430 for instance who speak out against this dangerous group of predators.

1. The predators

The subreddit, a youth-focused sub, is full of older adults who pretend to be children because they want to continue their predatory behavior towards children and teenager. A "12-year old" on the subreddit may actually be 25 years old. There is clear signs that the people part of this subreddit want more predatory behavior. For instance, one of the actual mods on there suggested a 15 year old being with a 25 year old as a romantic relationship, which is clearly unacceptable. A 15 year old is not as mature as a 25 year old, who has a whole decade more development than them. That is clearly unacceptable for someone to say that, especially as a moderator of a subreddit. I also saw someone on there even say that teenagers should be treated the same way adults are in legal society, when they clearly shouldn't be because they are not always capable of the same responsibilities an adult can do. Sure, teens having some independence is not always a problem such as working certain jobs for instance (many laws typically put certain jobs starting at 14), but they should not be treated the same as adults, and even I recognize that. While there are other youth-focused subs that do have predators, I argue that this one is the absolute worst out of all of them.

2. Lying and using deception as an excuse

The users on there (and the mods as well) have a tendency to lie about what they do in order to dodge criticism and backlash. For instance, when they get called out for having tons of pdfs on there, a mod will say "we aren't pdfs" or "we aren't predators", even if they acknowledge there is actually predators on there. And ironically, one of their mods (the one who said 15 x 25) is an actual predator, which shouldn't be surprising given that sub is made to defend predators. I also saw someone who was allegedly "16" from that subreddit told me when I was calling the subreddit out earlier say that they are not a predator, does not call for full adulthood on teens, and that the subreddit was not predatory. I highly doubt they were 16, they likely have to be in their 20s or at the very least, a teen who has no restrictions on their Internet access. Also, they called me a fascist just for calling them out, when there's no way I am one as such. There was also one post saying that all teenagers are biologically adults, when according to actual research, only some older teenagers are biological adults after puberty where the body changes has been completed (not saying they should be treated as adults, just looking at the scientific part). A 13 year old is not an adult like a 20 year old. Their long-time cases of lying to others show how deceptive they really are. I have also noticed that the subreddit has itself been making alternate subreddits under different names to avoid the bad reputation they have and seem like a "safer" subreddit when they absolutely aren't.

3. Encouraging age-inappropriate activities for minors

While the actual movement itself is meant to expand the independence of older teenagers and younger adults by giving them more freedom in an age-appropriate manner, this subreddit clearly does the exact opposite, wanting children and teenagers to engage in age-inappropriate activities that don't suit their age. For instance, I saw someone say that teenagers should have children, when they should absolutely not, regardless of their maturity because not only they aren't capable enough. In addition, I even saw some of them suggest teens engage in activities such as wanting the age of consent to be lowered to a ridiculously low age, wanting teens to do things like dating, and other things I can't mention. This is absolutely outrageous for a subreddit that is meant to talk about teenager's rights and how it could be age-appropriately expanded, but yet it's been hijacked by predators. The expansion of minor's rights should be based on their maturity and development, not just because they are older. I have seen them want to get rid of actually important laws such as COPPA for instance. COPPA, while it seems restrictive, is actually an important law because it protects the data of minors online and without it, the data and personal information of minors could be collected by companies and be bound for a potential data breach that could be open to predators. It seems like these predators want COPPA gone because they want to know how old someone is.

The only positive

Now, at least they are there to speak out against the digital ID laws like the UK Online Safety Act, the USA's Kids Online Safety Act, and Australia's Online Safety Act and social media ban, which for the sake of privacy, I of course oppose them as they will lead into data breaches and will make people suspectable to doxing. I believe that parents and families know their kids best and ideally should be able to regulate their children on the Internet, not governments. However, I only talk about digital IDs on r/privacy and related subreddits as there's no way I will engage on a subreddit with hundreds of predators. In conclusion, I believe the subreddit should be banned for the protection of minors on Reddit and that such subreddits with extreme views should not be allowed to exist. I am honestly shocked how this subreddit has been allowed to exist for years with the absolutely disgusting people they have. So, thank you to all these predator-catchers.

I'm pretty concerned about Ryan's World, even my mother is concerned about him as well. As far as I was told, Ryan was only meant to make some videos with his parents about toys back in 2015 when he was three or four, but over the years, they doubled down constantly on him and made hundreds of videos featuring him nonstop. And while he did feel fine with it initially, over the years and as he grew in puberty, he stated dismissing it because he wanted to have his own freedom, yet his parents still refuse to give him that. This became more concerning around 2020-2023 when he was starting puberty and when he was 9-12 years old, and was still forced to make this content. And he is 14 years old now, he should not be doing any toy reviews at that age. He should have some hobbies like sports or gaming and maybe have his own YouTube channel by now, not being forced into an old asset.

And this also begs the question, will Ryan's World ever end? Or it will just keep going for years, even if Ryan is an adult?

You need to be know these things before you want to give your power to a big government or company.

First of all, these laws do not protect your child, nor any average Internet user, they protect people like the government, OpenAI, and Meta that wants people to push these laws to avoid responsibility. They fundamentally break one of the most important pillars of the Internet: privacy. Our data will become stored in unknown databases that we all do not know about, nor we know what will happen to such data.

Also, you cannot expect governments to ban your children from being addicted to electronics, that should be your responsibility. You already could've banned your kids from having a tablet or something like that or monitor them while using the Internet and on their own devices like a computer, yet you want governments do to your job instead? That's not good parenting. You know how to regulate a child's TV or video game console, so why not do the same with any device they have?

And these laws actually do not make kids understand Internet safety, it actually causes them to be more rebellious. Tech savvy kids will get annoyed at the fact they are restricted via a ID check or even a total government ban from the Internet and they will always look for ways to get around it. When I was a child, my parents used to regulate and monitor what I would do on the Internet as well as any devices I used, so why can't you do the same thing?

Be the parent yourself, teach your kids digital literacy, set up parental controls or rules surrounding Internet usage, talk to them how they can be safe both online and offline, set screen time limits, and don't be a lazy parent who expects governments to raise your child. I understand that not all parents are able to monitor their child 24/7, but you need to monitor your child in the digital world like you did on TV, radio, and video games.

View Poll

Other than well-known figures who helped popularize the ID push worldwide like the UK Government with their Online Safety Act being passed in the fall of 2023, I have also heard from a lot of sources that Meta (Facebook) is actively pushing for more ID verification laws across the globe and that they have been supporting such laws in countries such as Canada for instance. Now to be sure, I don't really know if they are one of those to blame, but are they really another major contributor? I've seen Meta be part of NetChoice (ironically) and oppose some ID verification laws, but is Meta really to blame?

Update, I am asking if Meta is really one of these to blame, not the only one to blame. There's definitely other people to blame for sure, but I don't know if Meta is really one of these pushers.

Share your own takes below!