Does anyone know if anyone is building products or doing research on the #Fediverse (incl.

[philcowans@universeodon.com]

Does anyone know if anyone is building products or doing research on the #Fediverse (incl. #Mastodon etc.) for #children ? I'm basically wondering about what it would take for it to be considered by the general public to be a safe alternative to commercial social media, possibly via a specialist client application. I'm UK based, but happy to hear about any jurisdiction and am really thinking in terms of products rather than legal / policy factors.

Boosts appreciated for this one, thanks!

[philcowans@universeodon.com]

Linking this thread to the following post from @hpod16:

https://eupolicy.social/@hpod16/117166567379976300

I'm not in a position to put together an application myself (unfortunately no longer in the EU), but I think it's extremely important to demonstrate that social media can be positive for children if the malpractice and misaligned incentives of the large corporate players are removed.

[wsslmn@mastodon.nl]

@philcowans I'd point towards lovely humans like @FediVariety / @zzepposs and @waag

[64bithero@mstdn.games]

@philcowans While the lack of a predatory algorithm helps. Most of the issues or factors comes from the people who use the platforms. If the teen still follows “harmful” content, it’s still has a similar negative effect.

Personally I think kids should be individually taught how to handle themselves on the internet. By parents, siblings and maybe school staffs.

I don’t think age gating fixes much of anything. And certainly not to force us to give tons of information to track and identify who we are.

To stay on topic, it’s not a simple solution and I am unsure how much federated platforms help on that issue …

[woo@fosstodon.org]

@philcowans I don't think it is safe for children, because it has people on it and you can't be sure of their intention if they talk to a child. I used to run a community web site. I was contacted by someone interested in getting the photos of the local skate park updated. I soon realised I was talking to a child on the Internet, without his parents knowledge and I was in danger. But it might have been him :-/.

[philcowans@universeodon.com]

@woo - I was more thinking in terms of the open nature of the platform rather than the fact that it's decentralised, i.e. the ability to use a custom client which e.g. gives parents / carers control / oversight and potential allows automatic filtering in a way which can be trusted. Potentially this could be e.g. children can only consume content from a whitelisted set of accounts and only interact with verified real life friends. All of this without big tech constantly trying to undermine it.

I suspect that there might be academics who have researched this in more detail though.

[philcowans@universeodon.com]

@wsslmn @FediVariety @zzepposs @waag - thanks!

[nelfan@gotosocial.social]

@philcowans

Relevant question. I am in touch with an informal collective aiming to attract teachers and to bring the #Fediverse to their attention in order to let them use it in schools.
Indeed, under teacher's or schools headquarter's control and installed on @yunohost for that purpose, any Fediverse's instance  would become undoubtedly and undeniably safe for children and teens.

[nelfan@gotosocial.social]

@philcowans
To complete my train of thoughts, I consider @Bonfire as the first suitable Fediverse's software to build a new network of schools welcoming children and teens on the Fediverse.

@yunohost