> They argue that SIM card regulation could help “disincentivise” online manipulation, and say their tool can be used to test policy interventions the world over.

Their solution is to deanonymize communication, which you're probably familiar with. That's not a tool for social good, but for government power. We could give government virtually any power, if we assume it will be used only for good.

What's a solution to online manipulation that is actually a social good or cannot be misused? What's a freedom-promoting technology that can replace the disaster that is current social media?

It's done little to nothing to stop phone-based scams in European countries. It's unbelievable how many calls and SMS we get with scams, supposedly for SIM cards that require ID (Belgium and France).

Yeah I don't think we should expect cell networks to secure or protect these third parties.

India is one of the countries widely known to be a hub for social media bots.

India has also always required buyers to submit their government IDs to buy SIM cards.

I've become a fan of Passkey instead of worrying about 2-factor, my phone or my Mac is how I authenticate with encryption keys only on my device.

or people could just start to realize that social media is junk food and stop eating it.

We are in a situation where it's a choice between unchecked corporate/oligarchic power or government power, at least the latter is nominally accountable in a democracy.

We have to solve universal beauty somehow. People like to take part in beauty, so it isn’t fair to admonish it outright as pure vanity. If you stared at the most beautiful people all day what need do you have to survey the world like Quasimodo from the social media bell tower?

The Hunchback struggled with an apparent vacancy of physical beauty and the burden of exclusion. He constantly doom scrolled from the tower above looking down. The solution required everyone in town to have a literal fucking epiphany.