I think this was asked by someone already, but I do wonder. I think it would be cool if my sister joined the Fediverse (but blocked NSFW content). She is a high school freshman, but I can’t have her join an instance where you must be an adult.

I do have friends on other social medias that are 13+ with their teen siblings making an account to follow them, but what are the rules here??

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[–] skullgiver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl 5 points 2 hours ago

Kids shouldn't even be on social media, but at least the corporate ones are covering their ass against lawsuits well enough that they try to moderate content.

The Fediverse is not a place for kids. Servers catering especially towards kids are DEFINITELY not for kids, because that's exactly the kind of server I would build if I were a pedo.

The legal requirements for hosting content for kids are a massive headache that you definitely don't want to take on as a volunteer. The Fediverse can't even comply with the GDPR, let alone COPPA and its many international alternatives that actually see enforcement.

Of course I was a kid on the internet too and very few websites care about lying about your age, but if you do that and see the occasional dick, fetish porn or gore, you've only got yourself to blame. Plus, the Fediverse is full of misinformation, lies, and propaganda, from every side of the spectrum. Moderators can only do so much, and some moderators straight-up post misinformation and propaganda themselves. Best not to expose kids to any it that shit until their brains have developed a bit more.

[–] Tracaine@lemmy.world 11 points 12 hours ago

Yeah man. I'm 40. There's plenty of instances you get a chance to be 13+

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 46 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Mine, sh.itjust.works is 16+.

There's nothing stopping your sister from just not mentioning her age, but 13 is pretty young for this kind of social media, in my opinion.

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 16 hours ago

Yeah. Our vibe here is kinda dark, and I feel that way as an adult who’se gone through lots of shit. It’s not the most cheery place. Trying to change that a little by little, cuz I love a lot of people here and it’s so unique!

[–] simple@piefed.social 34 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I'm going to be real, the Fediverse is not where you want young teens and kids to be. A lot of extreme opinions are floating around, and the Fediverse still has the occasional spamwave which could contain NSFW content.

[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.world 8 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I suspect this is going to be true of pretty much any publicly accessible social media in general, parental controls built into the app or browser user access controls for censoring, time limits, or keeping them on a family friendly instance seems to be the right move

[–] simple@piefed.social 7 points 16 hours ago

At least on something like Instagram they'd be around people their age and not a mostly older men demographic posting about politics 24/7 like the Fediverse is.

[–] the_abecedarian@piefed.social 4 points 13 hours ago

@Aurora: I think most Pixelfed instances/apps have a way to block NSFW content. You'll have to make sure your sister has NSFW content blocking on (and keeps it on) and you'll want to check in with her every now and then about her experience there. I think marking images as NSFW is optional for the person posting the content, so not every single NSFW image will necessarily be blocked. It's hard to give someone a completely clean social media experience.

One other thing you can try: look for instances that are focused on a topic your sister enjoys that is not likely to have NSFW content in it, like ppl who are interested in trains or playing a musical instrument. There are some here: https://fediverse.party/en/portal/servers/ (but you should check the server before she joins)

to all the commenters saying the fediverse is not a good place: these kids are going to be on social media, one way or another. It could be tiktok, bluesky, snapchat, or whatever else they can get onto. Some (but not all) parts of the fediverse should be accessible to them. Ofc that means someone has to do the hard work of hosting those instances, which is not easy. Just saying "this isn't for you" isn't doing teens or the fediverse or parents any favors.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 6 points 17 hours ago

I think you should find a smaller, well moderated instance and show it to your parents first. If they consent with her signing up to it, it should be fine and generally speaking there is no practical way for instances to check the age of their members anyways.

[–] cutebc24@piefed.social 9 points 19 hours ago

I know lemmy.world ISN’T 13+.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Why do you care?

If it's just about following the rules as a matter of principle, I suggest not doing that. Nobody is checking, and saying your exact age on public social media is oversharing anyway.

If it's about content moderation being strict enough to satisfy some comfort level, I wouldn't rely on that, but I also think 13 is old enough to start learning there are shitty people online and how to deal with them, preferably with some adult support.

[–] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 3 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

There was a user that was revealed to be under 18, maybe they were 16 almost 17, Abe they got banned, by .world (I could be wrong there).

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

How were they revealed?

[–] AuroraGlamour@lemmy.ml 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

if it's who I think it is, they themselves said so

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

And that is what I would recommend against, even on a server that does not ban that age. If someone's (young) age is relevant to a discussion they wish to participate in, I would suggest a throwaway account.

[–] AuroraGlamour@lemmy.ml 1 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Was it that one 14 yr old girl?? She was permabanned everywhere.

[–] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe, I thought they were older than 14. But I only followed a bit and my aging memory may be failing me.

[–] AuroraGlamour@lemmy.ml 2 points 15 hours ago

They may have been 16-17 then. Her?? or no?

[–] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 7 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Most people will likely agree that 13 is too young, but it kind of depends on her maturity level too. I had unfettered internet access from about that age and I don't think it messed me up too bad... Lol.

Anyway, I don't really think there's many instances, if any, geared towards younger audiences. Maybe Beehaw would be a tamer one to look at?

[–] sznowicki@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

If I recall correctly beehaw is the one that federates with nearly no one right? If that's the one I also think that would be most appropriate. They have good moderation and are safe space by design so this would be least problematic.

[–] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 1 points 18 hours ago

Not sure, I just know their guidelines are supposed to be more strict in general.

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 18 hours ago

I'm currently unable to find a minimum age requirement on my instance, so she could try that. I've never given this topic much thought because Lemmy didn't exist when I was a minor...