https://intgovforum.org/en/content/igf-2024-ws-14-children-in-the-metaverse This session has a lot of red flags. Niche area (metaverse). "think of the children". "safety by design". "primary consideration". Also, note the complete absence of digital rights groups.
"So far there is no regulation in place that properly defines the ownership of virtually bought products. Portability of one own’s creations like avatars and purchased goods like a skin or feature from one platform to another must be guaranteed, not only for consumer protection reasons, but also to ensure the right of the child to not being “illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity”, as demands Art. 8, para. 2 of the UN-CRC."
"think of the children" literature can get pretty bizarre. So, if I upload an avatar to Twitter, then Facebook or Mastodon are obligated to uphold that too, otherwise they are "depriving me of elements of my identity"? Or if I play one MMORPG, any skin I buy has to be usable on another one? I can see an argument for portability, particularly when it comes to social networks, but this is a strange one.
Someone could argue that it's somehow "different" for minors than for adults but I really don't see how it is.
"safety by design" might sound fancy, but if you dig down, it is basically political rhetoric created by a foreign politician to argue for censorship.