EU Stasi
When jealous partner reads their spouse's private messages, installs spyware or demands access to the phone, we call it coercive control and abuse.
In many jurisdictions this can land the person in jail.
When corporation does the same thing to few hundred million people, with blessing from politicians, apparently it becomes child protection.
The legal context differs, but the human nervous system does not magically stop responding because the observer is Meta rather than a jealous spouse.
The person knows their private messages may be scanned, even if they have done nothing wrong.
So they stop discussing certain topics. Mental health, sexuality, family problems, politics, relationship issues, anything which some machine may flag or some unknown employee may read without context.
Then after some time they no longer write what they think, but what they think is safe to write.
No private self for you.
There is research on the victims of Stasi surveillance showing long-term depression, anxiety, trauma and even physical effects linked with chronic stress and inflammation.
It is sometimes called Stasi syndrome for a reason.
People seem to think that surveillance causes no injury because there is no bruise and nobody has kicked the door in.
But spending years knowing that every private conversation may be inspected is psychological violence. Long-term psychological violence can lead to clinical depression, physical illness and, in the worst cases, death by suicide.
Then someone will surely say that nobody is forced to use Messenger or similar platforms.
Of course.
You only have to leave family chats, school groups, local communities and most social contact. Then explain to everyone why you are being difficult and what exactly you have to hide.
It is like saying worker is free not to accept surveillance at work. They only have to become unemployed.
History has plenty of mass surveillance systems. Somehow none of them ended with population becoming safer, freer and mentally healthier.
They usually ended with dossiers, false accusations, self-censorship and institutions finding new reasons why the temporary powers must remain forever.
But apparently abuse stops being abuse when Parliament gives it legal basis, Meta runs the machinery and politicians put a child on the poster.
