Katie Price launches petition to require China-style ID verification in the UK to use social media

The petition itself reads:

"Make it a legal requirement when opening a new social media account, to provide a verified form of ID. Where the account belongs to a person under the age of 18 verify the account with the ID of a parent/guardian, to prevent anonymised harmful activity, providing traceability if an offence occurs."

Alarmingly to many, the petition is now up for debate in the British parliament after having met a quota of digital signatures to merit such. As of this writing, 137,962 people have put their name on it.

The controversy started because of repeated incidents of online "bullies" making offensive comments about her disabled son, Harvey.

However, many critics say the measure would go too far. As a relevant point, they point to Communist mainland China, where such a measure is already law.

In mainland China, the measure is used to have police track down, drag away and disappear the slightest voice dissenting against the government and everything it does, leading to a complete lack of transparency.

Also, their tracking of social media is what has allowed them to implement a draconian and Orwellian "social credit" system, which penalizes some actions and rewards others, calculating everything into one numerical score, similar to a credit rating but much more all-encompassing.

People whose score falls below certain thresholds can lose their jobs, lose government benefits, and even be prevented from travelling.