The internet is no longer the Wild West. In the U.S. and around the world, online age-verification laws are being used to keep kids from seeing harmful or age-inappropriate materials — a trend critics say creates a less secure, less private and less free internet.
More than 20 states have passed verification laws, said The Associated Press. That could have "significant impacts on the speech and privacy rights of adults," said Jennifer Huddleston, of the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, to the AP.
In the U.K., a new verification law aimed at restricting access to pornography has prompted Reddit, X, Telegram and Bluesky to also implement age checks, while Mississippi now requires age checks to access social media sites, said the AP. The growing restrictions could eventually require users to verify their ages to "access anything, from Netflix to a neighborhood blog."
What did the commentators say?
The "age-gating" laws intended to make the internet safer "actually threaten free speech," Neil McArthur, of the University of Manitoba, said at The Conversation. While their purpose is "admirable enough," the effort comes with a "massive cost." Many sites require users to upload photos of their government-issued identification cards "without knowing if their data is secure." And American states are using the laws to restrict access to information about "abortion, sexual health and LGBTQ identity."
Age checks are a "long overdue" tool to "bring online adult content in line with offline protections for minors," said Iain Corby, the executive director of the Age Verification Providers Association, at The Hill. Americans are already asked to show their IDs to "buy alcohol, enter a casino or watch an R-rated film in a theater." The laws "aren't about banning speech." Instead, they affirm that "some content is for adults only and that children should be protected from harm."
What next?
The new requirements are "potentially driving people to seedier corners of the web," said The Washington Post. After the British law went into effect, traffic to adult sites that required users to prove their age "collapsed," while sites that disregarded the rule have been "rewarded with a flood of traffic."
A coalition of tech companies is challenging the Mississippi law, while bracing for the possibility that a nationwide age-verification law could pass Congress. The tension between privacy and safety will continue. | 
