> if we don't do something, the trajectory is that ~every website and app is going to either voluntarily or compulsorily do face scans, AI behavior analysis, and ID checks for their users

You're going to get that, anyway. Platforms want to sell their userbases as real monetizable humans. Governments want to know who says and reads what online. AI companies want your face to train their systems they sell to the government, and they want to the be the gatekeepers that rank internet content for age appropriateness and use that content as free training material.

Age verification across platforms is already implemented as AI face and ID scans. This is where we're already at.

I am well aware of the alignment of interests and the dismal state of things. I'm of the opinion that the only way to divert is radical legal action that shatters the defense industry and social media titans, and it sure as hell won't be Gavin Newsom who delivers it.

And laws like this California one actually make it more illegal.