An online and offline community for children
The idea: children should have online spaces where they can make friends, talk, organize, and choose their own community rules.
This is a proposal for change. These spaces would protect children from adults pretending to be children, watching their conversations, or using their information to make money.
Who would take part?
Only children would be members. There could be separate spaces for different age groups. Each space would explain what happens when a member becomes an adult.
Adults might maintain the computers that run the network. That job would not give them permission to read conversations or join the community.
How would the community work?
- Members would choose rules and moderators: people who help apply the rules.
- Members could appeal a moderation decision by asking for it to be reviewed.
- Parents would not get special accounts for watching their children.
- The service would not sell members’ data or show adverts chosen by tracking them.
- A child could invite help through a separate channel. The helper would not gain access to other members’ conversations.
- Emergency procedures would be narrow and clearly explained. They would not allow routine monitoring of everyone.
Checking age without sharing everything
One possible design is an independent service that confirms only, “This person can join this group.” The network would not receive the person’s name, identity papers, or exact birthday.
This still needs careful testing. It is not a promise that every adult pretending to be a child could be caught.
An example
Children start a book club. They choose their discussion rules and moderators. If a member asks for help with bullying, that request would not let the helper read everyone else’s private messages.
Questions still to answer
- How could age checks work reliably without building one central database of children’s identities?
- How could members challenge unfair moderators?
- How should the community deal with bullying and fake identities?
- Exactly when could emergency access happen, and who would check it?
- What happens to someone’s information and friendships when they become too old for a space?