Let me see some ID: age verification is spreading across the internet
Source: The Verge
Age verification is becoming a reality on a growing number of social media platforms, requiring an ID or facial scan for full access to everything from YouTube to Roblox. The age‑gating wave is accompanied by calls for stronger child‑safety measures online, despite concerns about privacy, security, and censorship. In the US, lawmakers are pushing forward bills like the App Store Accountability Act and Parents Over Platforms Act to have app stores themselves verify users’ ages. Discord has delayed plans to roll out age verification globally after user backlash until later in 2026, but it hasn’t completely shelved them, even after a breach of a former vendor last year that leaked some users’ scanned IDs. Meanwhile, other platforms, like ChatGPT and Google, are applying AI models to identify and lock down accounts suspected of being underage until some form of identity verification can prove the user is an adult.
Platform Updates
- Discord is delaying its global age verification rollout.
- Discord distances itself from Persona age verification after user backlash.
- Discord says the “vast majority” of users won’t see its new age verification setup.
- Discord’s age verification mandate is a leap toward a gated internet.
- Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month.
- ChatGPT is using age prediction to restrict what minors see.
- Roblox now requires an age check if you want to chat.
- Roblox will require a facial scan or government ID to have unfiltered chats.
- Microsoft starts rolling out Xbox age verification in the UK.
- Reddit and Discord’s UK age verification can be defeated by Death Stranding’s photo mode.
- Reddit is rolling out age verification in the UK.
- Bluesky brings age verification to South Dakota and Wyoming.
- Bluesky blocks Mississippi under new age verification law.
- Bluesky is rolling out age verification in the UK.
- Steam users in the UK will need a credit card to access “mature content” games.
- Mastodon can’t comply with Mississippi’s age verification laws.
- Google is using AI age checks to lock down user accounts.
- Google has open‑sourced its privacy‑focused age verification technology.
- Apple is hitting back in the war over internet age‑gating.
- Apple is locking down iPhones to comply with Texas’ age verification law.
- Instagram is testing an AI tool that verifies your age by scanning your face.
Legislative and Legal Actions
- The US is considering the App Store Accountability Act and Parents Over Platforms Act.
- Judge blocks Texas app store age verification law.
- Supreme Court opens door to social media age‑gating in the US.
- Supreme Court just upended internet law, raising new questions.
- Utah governor signs the first app store age verification bill into law; Utah becomes the first state to pass such a bill.
- Australia boots kids under 16 off social media; platforms are responding.
- The EU is testing a prototype age verification app, slated to launch in July.
- The EU age verification app will launch in July.
- Mississippi enacts new age verification laws affecting Bluesky and Mastodon.
- Texas passes an age verification law targeting app stores.
Industry and Policy Commentary
- America desperately needs new privacy laws.
- Child safety bills are reshaping the internet for everyone.
- Online age verification is coming, and privacy is on the chopping block.
- Ready or not, age verification is rolling out across the internet.
- Welcome to the “papers, please” internet.
- Meet the new tech laws of 2026.
- How Meta’s global head of safety approaches online age verification.