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What would be an example of something empirical that would justify age verification for social media use or pornography? Ultimately aren't these at worst empty / arbitrary moral panics and at best the realm of moral debate?
That is, you can't take observations and turn them into a normative system ("is" doesn't give you "ought"), so what exactly are you thinking can be studied here?
I'm generally opposed to strict verification. To me the only thing that could justify it is a repeatable study that shows causation between something that the verification would restrict and a negative (not moral panic negative) outcome. Whenever its brought up the "think of the children" comments come out and I am skeptical. It often sounds like video games cause violence excuses. I wanted to know if there was actual justification because to me it seems like they are usually pushed by either religious groups or some group that wants to hoover up data. I have yet to see something beyond moral panic justifying the push.