Age verification: Difference between revisions

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'''Age Verification''' (AV), also referred to as '''Age Affirmation''' (AA), is the process in where a business requires some form of identification to verify your age. This is usually done for more explicit or mature content. This practice has been widely spreading since the [[UK Online Safety Act|UK's Online Safety Act (OSA)]] has passed; requiring all individuals to verify themselves before accessing mature content. Ways of checking age include, but are not limited to: checking for a valid credit card, facial age estimation tools, government-issued ID, biometric data, account history behavior, and more.

'''[[wikipedia:Age_verification|Age Verification]]''' (AV), also referred to as '''Age Affirmation''' (AA) and '''Age gating''', is the process in where a business requires some form of identification to verify your age. This is usually done for more explicit or mature content. This practice has been widely spreading since the [[UK Online Safety Act|UK's Online Safety Act (OSA)]] has passed; requiring all individuals to verify themselves before accessing mature content. Ways of checking age include, but are not limited to: checking for a valid credit card, facial age estimation tools, government-issued ID, biometric data, account history behavior, and more.

As of December 2025, 25 US States require websites with mature content to verify age.<ref>{{Cite web |title=State Age Verification Laws - Action Center |url=https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/age-verification-resources/state-avs-laws/ |url-status=live |access-date=2025-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251228121257/https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/age-verification-resources/state-avs-laws/ |archive-date=2025-12-28 }}</ref>

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==How it works==

When accessing a platform or website that may contain content not suitable for all audiences may force you to register for the platform along with verifying your age by one of the methods mentioned previously. Sites that likely don't use any form of account system will probably have a popup instead requiring you to verify your age before even serving the content you were trying to access.

New legislation now mandates [[wikipedia:Operating_system|operating systems (OS)]] to block the user until they verify their age. This is done "for convenience" so that apps and websites don't individually prompt the user, instead those apps/websites can just query the platform (e.g. OS, web-browser, etc...) without the user noticing.

==Why is this a problem?==

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Having companies easily able to identify you means they can track you more efficiently and sell that shared profile to other companies such as ad agencies that then start targeting you specifically.

===~~Goverment~~ overreach===

===Government overreach===

Governments can also more easily track online movements and find out who you are. Saying something that may go against their own agenda may end up with a police raid, heavy interrogation, and prison time.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Liu |first=John |date=2025-06-20 |title=China tightens internet controls with new centralized form of virtual ID |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/20/tech/china-censorship-internet-id-hnk-intl#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThis%20is%20a%20state%2Dled,an%20infrastructure%20of%20digital%20totalitarianism.%E2%80%9D |access-date=2025-09-04 |work=CNN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250620233250/https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/20/tech/china-censorship-internet-id-hnk-intl |archive-date=2025-06-20 }}</ref>

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===Inaccuracy===

Researches about age verification software that estimates age via face scans are inaccurate, identifying children as adults or vice versa.{{Citation needed}}

Researches about age verification software that estimates age via face scans are inaccurate, identifying children as adults or vice versa. These inaccurate estimations might lead to have to use more privacy-invasive methods like submitting a picture of a personal ID. {{Citation needed}}

==Examples==

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 {{See also|Forced identification|De-anonymization}}
-'''Age Verification''' (AV), also referred to as '''Age Affirmation''' (AA), is the process in where a business requires some form of identification to verify your age. This is usually done for more explicit or mature content. This practice has been widely spreading since the [[UK Online Safety Act|UK's Online Safety Act (OSA)]] has passed; requiring all individuals to verify themselves before accessing mature content. Ways of checking age include, but are not limited to: checking for a valid credit card, facial age estimation tools, government-issued ID, biometric data, account history behavior, and more.
+'''[[wikipedia:Age_verification|Age Verification]]''' (AV), also referred to as '''Age Affirmation''' (AA) and '''Age gating''', is the process in where a business requires some form of identification to verify your age. This is usually done for more explicit or mature content. This practice has been widely spreading since the [[UK Online Safety Act|UK's Online Safety Act (OSA)]] has passed; requiring all individuals to verify themselves before accessing mature content. Ways of checking age include, but are not limited to: checking for a valid credit card, facial age estimation tools, government-issued ID, biometric data, account history behavior, and more.
 As of December 2025, 25 US States require websites with mature content to verify age.<ref>{{Cite web |title=State Age Verification Laws - Action Center |url=https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/age-verification-resources/state-avs-laws/ |url-status=live |access-date=2025-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251228121257/https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/age-verification-resources/state-avs-laws/ |archive-date=2025-12-28 }}</ref>
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 ==How it works==
 When accessing a platform or website that may contain content not suitable for all audiences may force you to register for the platform along with verifying your age by one of the methods mentioned previously. Sites that likely don't use any form of account system will probably have a popup instead requiring you to verify your age before even serving the content you were trying to access.
+New legislation now mandates [[wikipedia:Operating_system|operating systems (OS)]] to block the user until they verify their age. This is done "for convenience" so that apps and websites don't individually prompt the user, instead those apps/websites can just query the platform (e.g. OS, web-browser, etc...) without the user noticing.
 ==Why is this a problem?==
@@ Line 30: / Line 32: @@
 Having companies easily able to identify you means they can track you more efficiently and sell that shared profile to other companies such as ad agencies that then start targeting you specifically.
-===Goverment overreach===
+===Government overreach===
 Governments can also more easily track online movements and find out who you are. Saying something that may go against their own agenda may end up with a police raid, heavy interrogation, and prison time.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Liu |first=John |date=2025-06-20 |title=China tightens internet controls with new centralized form of virtual ID |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/20/tech/china-censorship-internet-id-hnk-intl#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThis%20is%20a%20state%2Dled,an%20infrastructure%20of%20digital%20totalitarianism.%E2%80%9D |access-date=2025-09-04 |work=CNN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250620233250/https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/20/tech/china-censorship-internet-id-hnk-intl |archive-date=2025-06-20 }}</ref>
@@ Line 55: / Line 57: @@
 ===Inaccuracy===
-Researches about age verification software that estimates age via face scans are inaccurate, identifying children as adults or vice versa.{{Citation needed}}
+Researches about age verification software that estimates age via face scans are inaccurate, identifying children as adults or vice versa. These inaccurate estimations might lead to have to use more privacy-invasive methods like submitting a picture of a personal ID. {{Citation needed}}
 ==Examples==