I have just been tossed off Reddit. No bad behaviour but Reddit suspects I am not old enough. I have been an adult for quite a few years. Note that age verification is not (yet) required under EU law.

The age verification on Reddit runs through a third party which is associated with Palantir. I will not do this, and there’s enough data associated with my account to show I’m an adult.
In general I am extremely sceptical of giving this level of personal information to any third party but especially a company that just cannot be trusted and has proven itself to be a destructive force in the world. I would not recommend anyone to use this, even if it may lose you access to platforms.

On Reddit there have been concerns among the various European subs and its community. I have encouraged various mods to collectively search for a solution. A move to Lemmy seems the obvious one - also just for the sake of supporting European tech and platforms. Alas, none have acted. The best I got was ‘good idea, we’ll look into it’.

My guess is I am far from the only one to lose access, if not already than soon the same will happen to other users. It may destroy the community that exists there, and my guess is that it’s the largest online truly pan-European community.

Anyway, I’ve signed up for Lemmy / europe.pub a while ago and am eager to use it instead of Reddit. I just hope this place becomes a little more lively.

  • pnwpixel ( pnwpixel@programming.dev ) 
    9·
    2 months ago

    It’s amazing how easily the corpo social media sites outright supported, and in Meta’s case, lobbied for this surveillance overreach.

    They lick the boot that’s on their face.

    • lieven ( thisislieven@europe.pub ) OP
      8·
      2 months ago

      It’s an easy way for them to make even more money. Meta is just outright evil. I never joined Whatsapp or Instagram, no matter how annoyed it makes the people around me, and I was on FB for a brief while because of a specific community but the platform is just toxic even if you very selectively engage with it. And this was about a decade ago, it’s only gotten worse since.

      I am just angry with our European leaders who are massively dropping the ball and now even venture into anti-democratic tricks to push things through that have been defeated multiple times already.

      • pnwpixel ( pnwpixel@programming.dev ) 
        2·
        2 months ago

        From across the pond, I’m sorry you’re going through that. I try to keep up on how this is panning out in Europe as a whole, but I’m never really sure what news sources are worth trusting.

        • lieven ( thisislieven@europe.pub ) OP
          2·
          2 months ago

          Thanks, though depending on where you are across the pond not sure if there’s reason to be jealous. But yes, the EU is going through it at the moment and not sure where things will land eventually.

          There are several decent sources but for mainstream media I would recommend the EU section of the Brussels Times and the EU Observer. Dave Keating is one of the best independent journalists who’s not afraid to call things out for what they are. France24 is pretty decent too and free.

      • Albbi ( albbi@piefed.ca ) English
        5·
        2 months ago

        It can be very similar to reddit in that most people will only read the title and then come to the comments, and then maybe read the content of the post. (guilty)

        Some people here are still salty about Reddit. If it’s integrating with Palantir tech, yeah thats a good time to jump ship. That’s a very scary company.

        Anyway, welcome to the fediverse! I’ve been enjoying Piefed instead of Lemmy because it seems to handle cross posts a lot better. They’re basically the same thing and most servers offer a Lemmy and Piefed front end but you do need different accounts.

        • lieven ( thisislieven@europe.pub ) OP
          2·
          2 months ago

          I understand the basics of the fediverse and am into it but have yet to get a hang of it myself. It’s a bit annoying there are different standards which don’t communicate with each other.

          I have a Eurosky account but that doesn’t work with Mastodon and beyond that I am not quite sure what communicates with what. Admittedly, I have not yet made too much of an effort to look into it. That’s on me.

          With Reddit, I understand the saltiness but at the same time - for now the larger community is there and they are no less dedicated Europeans. I’ve genuinely tried to get a move to Lemmy going and if anything I hope that this next step in verification through nefarious third partners might help the effort. Chat control might be another push, as it is used on US platforms while European platforms have declined to use it as well.

      • newton ( newton@feddit.online ) English
        4·
        2 months ago

        Dear person. Understand your point of view and can imagine your feelings about the community. However, most have been away from reddit for several years and don’t want to have anything to do with it. You will certainly find a community at the fediverse where you can join,

        Because of privacy issue ,I use Linux for the past 15 years , last year totally degoogled , and grapheneOs installed.

        Kijk eens op piefed. Platform .

        • Zedstrian ( Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz ) English
          7·
          2 months ago

          Most Redditors have yet to leave the platform; we should therefore be welcoming, listen to the reasons they have for leaving Reddit, and direct them to active communities in the Threadiverse in a manner that is more fulfilling than their Reddit experience.

          There’s already enough hurdles around here in terms of needing to explain the basics of federation and tankie-blocking; if the first reply a new user reads is the equivalent to ‘shut up about Reddit and fit in’, we aren’t going to be getting very many new users.

          • lieven ( thisislieven@europe.pub ) OP
            3·
            2 months ago

            I guess if you focus on just the title and the first few words it seems like a post about Reddit, but it is really about an online community being torn apart by absolutely stupid measures and the people taking the charge there not ensuring it stays together. It is a very large community of Europeans and I do think that’s important to acknowledge.

            Admittedly I am somewhat oddly emotional about it as it literally just happened and I lost a community I invested in and care about in a split second. This may have coloured my post a bit.

            Luckily I had the foresight ensuring to have other ways of contacting the people most important to me over there.

            If you have tips, recommendations, anything - I love to hear it.

        • lieven ( thisislieven@europe.pub ) OP
          4·
          2 months ago

          That feels a lot more welcoming, thanks.

          I only used Reddit because of the European community, and by extension the non-US American community. As I said in the post, for now it is by far the largest online community of its kind and genuinely interesting conversations are happening there. European politics but also a strong buyfromEU community.

          It’s a difficult issue because many in the community want to move but no one wants to make the move because a lack of community. It could be coordinated and I have tried to encourage people to do so, but sadly no success so far. And if people drop off, like I have, it becomes difficult to find them back.

          Little over a year ago I made the swap to Linux myself and been actively degoogling. I went for Proton and Libre Office. Youtube and Android are the big issues. There simply is no equivalent to Youtube (in content at least) but I use Firefox + uBlock or on my phone Morphe which makes it sort of usable.

          I’ve looked into Graphene and other options but I struggle being able to use regular apps, banking most notable. For now I decided to leave it but when the time comes to replace my phone I will do everything I can to ditch Android (and obviously iOS is out of the question too).

          I’ve heard of piefed, but let me take it slow one platform at a time unless you have a specific reason to suggest it?

          • newton ( newton@feddit.online ) English
            1·
            2 months ago

            Dear person,

            I vaguely remember a community that was started in the Kortrijk Belgium area, does it still exist?

            Piefed map will not work at the moment, can’t check it.

            Bank apps ,check them on graphene site ,2 out off my 3 bancapps works fine on graphene

  • steel_for_humans ( steel_for_humans@piefed.social ) English
    3·
    2 months ago

    So far I only read some reports of this happening but fortunately have not experienced it yet. Somebody said it happens when you try to access NSFW content. I will never give my ID to Persona. The moment I get a request for that I’m off Reddit for good.

    • lieven ( thisislieven@europe.pub ) OP
      2·
      2 months ago

      Well, the purge seems to be happening. It was sort of weird because I was verified and then I wasn’t and then I was and then I wasn’t. But until this afternoon I could at least access the non-NSFW part of Reddit, even this morning without issue. Suddenly I can’t even access (or delete) my own profile.

      My biggest concern is that community falling apart.

      But indeed, in general I am wary of these third party providers but Personal especially. It’s not going to happen. As such, the end of Reddit for me. I am a little sad about it but glad I have options of reaching the few people important to me otherwise.

      In the end it’s probably for the best but I’d like to have made that decision myself.

        • lieven ( thisislieven@europe.pub ) OP
          1·
          2 months ago

          Nope. When I go to the site or open the app I am first forced to verify my age and when I click the button to enter my birth date it sends me to Persona instead. It’s beyond aggressive and I am fairly certain also illegal under EU law.

          There’s a right to delete your data and profile (and have it ‘forgotten’).

          When I suddenly had no access I contacted their customer service asking them to check my stuff, recognise I am an adult and reinstate me. Within a few minutes I got a mail that I had to either verify or sod it. When I replied to that that I should at least have access to my own data/profile they didn’t respond. I’ll give it a few days but this is not something I will just accept.

          I’m so over having to fight with companies for their refusal to comply with the law or, you know, just exercising basic decency.

    • Malyca ( Malyca@lemmy.zip ) 
      1·
      2 months ago

      Be off Reddit now because that’s piece of shit Nazi spez is already sharing your entire account contents with palantir. The things they can discern from your comments are scary. Delete them and get off the platform.

  • Malyca ( Malyca@lemmy.zip ) 
    1·
    2 months ago

    More will trickle in as these tech companies go more and more mask off. Just as a heads up, I have zero doubt Reddit has shared any and all user data with palantir. If you leave, delete your information first. Don’t stay.

    • lieven ( thisislieven@europe.pub ) OP
      1·
      2 months ago

      Not saying that isn’t the case but do you have any sources that show Palantir is directly involved?

      I don’t know where you are in the world but in the EU this should not be legal without explicit consent. Of course that may matter little but in theory there are laws against this.