The goal is controling the flow of information online. "protecting the children" may or may not be a sincere concern but ultimately censorship is what is desired here.
Same way the government needs to read all your emails because some terrorist on the other side of the world may or may not be using email as well to communicate.
Ultimately information is power, especially now. Governments naturally gravitate to wanting more and more power. Authoritarian types are all around, and their power is growing in the current political climate of America as they see a method that works, turning Americans against each other and creating national scares which in turn can be used to gain more control over every aspect of our lives
No. Stop using Hanlon's razor as a magic word that lets those in power evade responsibility for turning tech against people. They already excel at dodging consequences without anyone resorting to lazy two word arguments in their defense.
It doesn't take a computer genius to understand the broader implications this has on civil society. If they genuinely lack the insight to comprehend this, then they certainly wouldn’t be using children as a shield.
It's not theoretical - governments all over the world have attempted censorship and surveillance for thousands of years. This isn't some new thing that we're all cooking up right now. We, and they, already know what this is for.