Why does it need to be unfettered? They have peers.
Kids smoke/drink and it's literally illegal to sell them cigarettes/alcohol.
A significant percent of adults are also susceptible to crazed conspiracy theories... see QAnon. Now allow AI automation to target individuals and small groups to "optimize engagement" with apparently personal communications using A/B statistics. Everywhere all the time, because it's cheap, because it pays the rent. Some of them will be drawn to artificially generated violence inciting agit prop, because it works. There are negative externalities to that.
A significant percent of adults are also susceptible to crazed conspiracy theories... see QAnon. Now allow AI automation to target individuals and small groups to "optimize engagement" with apparently personal communications using A/B statistics. Everywhere all the time, because it's cheap, because it pays the rent. Some of them will be drawn to artificially generated violence inciting agit prop, because it works. There are negative externalities to that.