The internet is full of perils — this we know.
Among the rich trove of content we have at our fingertips is a combination of legal material, illegal material and material that falls into a gray area — often referred to in vague terms as «harmful.» This is the kind of content that might be appropriate for anyone with a fully developed prefrontal cortex to view but that you wouldn’t necessarily want your kids stumbling across.
In the past, accessing such content has been easy, regardless of age. You’ve been able to tick a box declaring yourself older than 18 or 21, or input a false birth date with no hassle. But that’s beginning to change.
Last month the UK became one of the first countries to mandate that tech companies verify the age of people using online services where they might be exposed to harmful content, including pornography. I’m a British citizen, and within the first few days of the rules coming into force, I was required to verify my age on Bluesky and Reddit. And it’s just the start.
Age verification is coming for you no matter where you live. Most states across the US are considering or introducing age verification laws. The result right now is a mishmash of rules, some fully cooked, others half-baked, with a lot currently unknown.
One thing you can be sure about is that age verification will impact your internet use at some point in the near future, if it hasn’t already happened. Here’s what you need to know.
What are the pros and cons of age verification?
The obvious, straightforward argument in favor of age verification is that we need to make the internet a safer place for kids.
The arguments against are more complex and varied.
Concerns about privacy encompass doubts about how securely your data will be stored and processed during the verification process (see the Tea App data breach), and extend to whether the systems being put in place could potentially be used to track people’s internet use.
Questions remain about whether the classification of «harmful content» could lead to people being restricted from accessing important information, such as sex education, health and political content. This could potentially amount to free speech violations.
Critics argue as well that by making legal adult content harder to access, people, including children, might go in search of illegal content instead — potentially pushing them into even more dangerous corners of the internet.
Online rights organizations including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Open Rights Groups have been vocal about the potential perils of age verification legislation and are closely tracking the impact of laws as they come into force.
How does age verification work?
There are various methods by which you might be asked to verify your age on the internet. This could involve showing a government ID; running banking, mobile carrier or credit card checks; or using a digital identity service where your verified age is stored in a wallet.
You could also be asked to use tech that estimates your age, such as email address verification that can link you to utility companies you may be signed up with. More commonly, you may be asked to submit a selfie, which will be analyzed to predict your likely age. This tech isn’t foolproof — after it was introduced in the UK, reports circulated of people spoofing the technology by showing it characters from video games.
Some tech platforms are introducing their own proprietary technology to verify people’s ages but the more common approach is to rely on third-party services specializing in digital age verification.
In most cases, verification is used to age-gate certain features — direct messages, for example — to limit access among children, rather than to exclude them entirely. In others, especially for pornography and adult content sites, it could be used to block access entirely.
Is my state introducing age verification rules?
At least 41 age verification bills have been discussed, introduced, rejected or passed at state level in the US. Some states have made multiple attempts to introduce legislation, so this figure does not reflect the number of states engaging with the issue.
Leading the way was Louisiana, which in 2022 required sites that classified more than 33.33% of its content as adult to verify people’s ages. This opened the floodgates for more bills to follow. If you want to see if your state is taking action, you can check out the Free Speech Coalition’s Age Verification Bill Tracker.
One especially notable moment during the influx of age verification legislation occurred in June of this year. Following two years of legal challenges, the Supreme Court upheld a 2023 Texas law requiring pornography sites to verify people’s ages. The ruling, which said that minors do not have a First Amendment right to access sexual material, will likely pave the way for other states to follow suit.
There also have been two attempts to bring in legislation at the federal level, through bills introduced by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Greg Steube of Florida, both in 2023. Neither has yet progressed beyond that early stage.
Arguably federal level laws would be easier for people to understand and tech companies to comply with than the array of rules coming in at state level.
How are tech companies responding?
For tech companies, age verification presents a complex challenge. After years of pressure to protect younger people using their services, they are in some cases now legally obligated to do so — and risk penalties if they fail to comply.
In the UK, the law allows companies to choose their own verification technique and services are largely provided by third-party companies, such as Yoti. The law extends beyond pornography sites to social media — that’s why I had to verify my age to use Bluesky and Reddit, so I could use DMs on the former and access certain subreddits on the latter.
In the US, Bluesky isn’t finding it so easy to comply with local laws. Last week, the company said it would be blocking access to the platform for people with Mississippi IP addresses because of the state’s age assurance law.
«Mississippi’s approach would fundamentally change how users access Bluesky,» it said in a blog post. «We know this is disappointing for our users in Mississippi, but we believe this is a necessary measure while the courts review the legal arguments.»
It’s not the only online service that’s been deterred from operating in specific jurisdictions because of age assurance rules. Pornhub is currently blocked in 21 US states because of various local laws it feels it can’t comply with.
That’s not to say age assurance laws automatically preclude these services from operating. Bluesky is still able to operate in the UK, for example. Meanwhile Pornhub can still be accessed in Louisiana, the first state to introduce age verification rules, because of the state’s reliance on third-party system LA Wallet to verify people’s ages, rather than requiring Pornhub to introduce its own system.
Some tech companies are also getting ahead of regulation by proactively introducing age assurance methods across their entire services.
Last month, gaming platform Roblox, which has come under fire for not doing enough to keep kids safe, introduced age verification for teens who want to chat with one another. Also in July, YouTube rolled out its AI-powered age-estimation technology to determine whether viewers are younger than 18, and restrict certain types of content accordingly. On a Facebook support page, information about age verification techniques suggests that Meta is also preparing to introduce more concrete efforts to determine the ages of people using its platforms.
Is it possible to bypass age verification?
Like death and taxes, online age verification is quickly becoming one of life’s inevitabilities. That doesn’t mean everyone is complying.
The primary method people are using to bypass verification is via VPNs. The week the UK’s Online Safety Act came into force, free VPNs shot up Apple’s App Store rankings, suggesting many people were attempting to avoid verifying their ages.
We don’t recommend using free VPNs, as they tend to offer slower speeds and collect your data, but a paid alternative could be an option for you if you’re determined to prioritize your privacy at all costs.
