The growing debate on age verification laws

Technicians and policy makers are a problem in identifying generations on the Internet: although it can be a revolutionary force for unprecedented education and communication around the world, it can also pose risk of children when they have completely unrestricted access.

However, there is no simple way to monitor the internet access for children without wiping over adults, which paves the way for disastrous internet privacy violations.

While some defenders praising these laws as causes for the safety of children, many security experts warn that these laws are proposed and approved with defective implementation plans, which are serious security risks for adult users as well.

Below is a preliminary about the place where the debate stands over the age and verify the identity, and where these laws are enacted.

What is exactly the verification of age?

When we are talking about age verification laws, we do not talk when you created a neopets account as a child and examined a box to confirm that you are not less than 13 years old. In the United States, these types of age checks are the result of the online privacy protection law (COPPA), an internet safety law that was approved in 1998. However, you already know, if you have a Neopeets account when you were 10, it is very easy to move in the age examination in the era of COPPA. You can simply click on the box it says you are 13.

In the context of the laws that appeared during the twenties of the twentieth century, age verification usually indicates the user who downloads an official identifier to the third -party verification system to prove those they are. Users may also download biometric facial scanning processes, such as the identifier that energy faces on iPhone.

What is an age verification point?

Of course, the integrity of the Internet is not really related to preventing children from playing games like Neopts. Parents and legislators are concerned about children who reach content that may be dangerous to minors, such as online pornography, information about illegal drug use, and social media where they may face strange intentions.

These concerns are not without foundation. Parents have turned into legislators to participate Dragon stories From how their children died after purchasing a fentanel that abandons Facebook, or how they took their private lives after facing the continuous bullying on Snapchat.

When technology becomes more advanced, the problem gets worse: Zoom with childrenWhile facing the letter. Judicial cases On suicide cases of children who were allegedly encouraged by companies chat stations.

We know that the Internet is not bad. Without leaving your home or spending any money, you can learn to play guitar or write the code. You can formulate significant friendships with people from the other side of the world. You can access healthcare care for a specialized dimension, even if you live in a place where no doctor is trained in your diagnosis. You can find the answer to any question you want at any specific moment (the capital of Madagascar is Antananarivo, by the way).

This is how global lawmakers have reached what they think is a good compromise: they will not be on the entire Internet, but they will put a certain content behind a gate that you can only open if you can prove that you are adult. But in this case, not only click on a box to confirm your life – you download the government identifier or scan your biometric data to demonstrate that you can access a specific content.

Is it safe to check your identity by downloading a governmental identifier or biometric examination?

The safety of any digital safety measure depends on its implementation.

Apple builds products such as the face identifier so that the biometric scanning of your face does not leave your iPhone never – it is never shared on the cloud, which greatly limits access to infiltrators.

But when any type of connection is involved in another network, this is when the identification is suspicious. We have already seen how these measures can play badly when technology is not capable of rock.

“There is no way to verify age is all privacy and accurate He writes. “These methods are not suitable for everywhere on a group of” safer “,” less safe “or” more accurate “and” less accurate “. Instead, each of them falls on a group of” one in one way “to” dangerous in a different way. “

In modern memory, we have some strong examples of bad things when the company slips its security.

On tea, an application that women use to share information about men who meet in dating applications, users must download personal photos and pictures of their identifiers to prove that they say they are. But users in 4chans, a Web forum for women, found this tea The left user data revealedThis means that bad actors can reach tens of thousands of government identifiers for users, personal photos, and even direct messages on the platform, where women share sensitive information about dating experiences. What was once claimed to be an application for women’s safety, ended up exposing her users to evil harassment, allowing bad actors to access personal information such as their home addresses.

These breakthroughs were possible despite the promise of tea that these images were not stored anywhere and were immediately deleted (it is clear that these allegations were wrong).

This type of things happens all the time – see just to Techcrunch’s Security coverage. But this is not only happening for new applications such as tea. World governments and Tryon dollar technology giants Certainly not exempt from data violations.

Is it really important if I lose hiding my identity on the Internet? I do not do anything oppressed.

These laws have inspired a lot of violent reaction, but this is not only because people are ashamed to link their pornographic viewers with government identifiers.

In places where people can be prosecuted for political speech, the lack of disclosure of his identity is vital to allowing people to discuss current events in a useful way and criticizing those in power without fear of revenge. In informants of companies can be unable to report the company’s violations if all of its online activity is linked to their identity, and victims of home abuse will find it difficult to escape dangerous situations.

In the United States, the idea of ​​trying political beliefs has become less theoretical. President Trump has threatening To send his political opponents to prison, and the government has Cancel visas Among the international students who criticized the Israeli government or participated in the protests against the country’s military measures.

What are the laws of age verification entered into force in the United States?

In the United States, Twenty -three countries Laws of age verification were enacted from August 2025, while two other states have laws to become valid in late September 2025.

These laws mostly affect web sites that host certain proportions of “harmful sexual materials for minors”, which differ from one state to another.

In practice, this means that porn sites should check the identity of the user before they can access the website. But some sites, such as Pornhub, simply chose Pass From some countries.

“Since the age verification program requires users to deliver very sensitive information, it opens the door to the risk of violating data,” Pornhub books On her blog. “Whether your intentions are good or not, governments have struggled historically to secure these data.”

What is considered a “harmful sexual substance for minors”?

The definition of this term varies depending on those who impose the law.

At a time when LGBTQ rights are Under attack In the United States, activists to caution Such laws can be used to classify non -porn information about the LGBTQ community, as well as basic sexual education, as “harmful sexual materials for minors”. These concerns appear on a good basis, given that President Trump’s administration has References have been removed To civil rights movements and the history of LGBTQ from some government sites.

The Age Verification Law in Texas – which was Support In the Supreme Court ruling in June – it was approved at the same time that the state imposed other legal restrictions on the LGBTQ community, including limits on General drag offers And prohibited Sex assertion care For minors. The Law of the Disburization Law later considered unconstitutional to violate the first amendment.

What happens with age verification in the UK?

UK’s year Online safety law In July 2025, many online platforms require to check the identity of the user before allowing them to reach. If a user is determined as a minor, he will not be allowed on certain web sites. The law applies to search engines, social media platforms, video sharing platforms, immediate messages services, and cloud storage sites-to a large extent wherever the media may face or speak to someone.

In practice, this means that web sites such as YouTube, Spotify, Google, X and Reddit require UK users to check their identity before reaching certain content. These requirements do not only apply to pornographic or violent content – people in the UK were prevented from displaying education sources and vital news, making it difficult to access information without exposing themselves to potential privacy concerns.

The UK does not use one specific way to verify the identity of a person – individual sites can decide what is the mechanism of its use, and it is supposed to oversee the Offes, the UK’s communication regulator, on this implementation. But as we explained the example of tea, we cannot trust that any specific authentication tool will be safe.

Now, users who are subject to verification must decide whether they want to access information freely or if they want to expose themselves to the risks of privacy.

Does the UK verification law affect me if I live elsewhere?

Even if you do not live in the United Kingdom, you may be affected by technical platforms that are already compatible with these regulations.

In the United States, YouTube has already started offering technology that is supposed Estimating the ages of users Based on their activity, regardless of the age they included when registering their account.

Can’t you just use VPN to overcome these barriers?

Yes, the UK App Store Plans are proven – after the online safety law entered into force, it was half the ten best free applications on iOS VPNS (Virtual private networks). We also saw VPN Spike downloads after the arrival of Pornhub in many US states.

When Pornhub was suspended in France, ProtonVPN said the recordings were It increased by 1000 % Within half an hour – the company said this was more height than Tiktok temporarily prevented American users.

Perhaps you have used VPN before if you log in to your office’s office computer, or if you rid your site so that you can watch the British comic play free of the United States

This is another problem: free VPNS is not always enjoying great special practices, even if it is announced in this way.

If you want to learn more about VPNS, Techcrunch has evidence What you need to know About VPNS and How can you decide If you need to use one.