Today, there was a lot of discussion about the UK’s proposed social media ban for users under 16. Essentially, young people would be blocked from platforms like YouTube unless an adult logs in using real ID verification. This has sparked significant controversy.
Setting aside the ID requirements, it raises an important question for businesses: If a government forced you to fundamentally change how your platform operates — collecting personal data, implementing age verification, or handing over user information for security reasons — what would you do?
In Canada, we’re seeing similar debates, where the government wants certain apps to create backdoors for law enforcement access to private data during investigations. Some companies argue this directly contradicts their core product, especially secure messaging apps built around end-to-end encryption. Several have already said they would simply leave the market rather than compromise their security model.
So if you were one of these social media companies, would you stay in a market that forces you to block a huge portion of your audience while also requiring you to collect sensitive ID information? For global giants like Google or Meta, losing one country might be painful but survivable. We saw this in Australia when Facebook threatened to block news content rather than pay licensing fees.
But for smaller or local businesses that rely heavily on their domestic market, the choice becomes much harder — comply or essentially go out of business. In my opinion, it often comes down to this: it’s easy for outsiders to say “just leave” or “stand on principle,” but when people’s livelihoods depend on it, they usually adapt.
It’s similar to employees who hate their jobs — they may disagree with the direction, but they still need the paycheck. As a business owner, you have to ask yourself: Do you have an exit strategy if regulators implement rules that fundamentally conflict with your values or business model? Would you comply, sell, or shut down and start something new? It’s always easier said than done.