Regulation
Proposed US law would ban infinite scroll, autoplaying video
By banning features (even annoying ones like autoplay) legally we’re crossing into a new era. Remember, regulation is a blunt instrument. How would they even enforce this? INTERNET FORCE!
Nobody likes auto-playing video or sites that keep scrolling away infinitely when you’re just trying to reach the bottom of the page. But you probably don’t hate either “feature” as much as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who introduced a bill today to ban these and other “exploitative” practices.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/07/proposed-us-law-would-ban-infinite-scroll-autoplaying-video/
While the ban on infinite scroll is the most amusing part, the proposed SMART Act (PDF), a backronym for the Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act, seeks to ban online companies from using a wide array of tactics that “exploit human psychology or brain physiology” to reduce user choice.
