EU parliament accepted a last minute amendment, mandating age verification for pornographic (whatever that is) content online, punishable with up to one year prison sentence.
This was a last minute addition to a directive concerning CSAM. Because adults accessing porn need to be de-anonymised to avoid child exploitation?
In 2023 I was thinking how stupid puritan the Texan politician were. The EU commission and parliament had different ideas.
Turns out the incumbents in EU are very scared as politicians from outside the traditional political families are getting popular votes. And instead of looking into to mirror as to why that is happening, they blame “the internet” and go authoritarian.
Thus joining in the creation of the machinery for mass surveillance and supression.
Currently, only the EU council can still stop this from becoming law. It already passed commission (it’s their amendment) and parliament.