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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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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 {{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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 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>