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‘Anonymity Online Is Going to Die’: What Age-Verification Laws Could Look Like in the U.S.
As controversy around the U.K.’s Online Safety Act continues, experts warn about similar legislation thriving in the U.S.
While U.S. officials such as Vice President J.D Vance and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan have derided the Online Safety Act as a path to censorship, at least 19 states already have laws on the books with similar requirements. On Aug. 23, 4chan and KiwiFarms, message boards that pride themselves on their anonymity, filed a federal lawsuit against Ofcom, 404 Media reported, claiming the age-verification fines they’ve received do not comply with the Constitution — specifically, its provision on free speech. Vera Eidelman, a staff attorney at the ACLU, tells Rolling Stone that this decision and the wave of similar age-verification laws harken back to historical responses to other content deemed threatening or dangerous for kids, like dime novels, radio dramas, comic books, TV, movies, video games, and explicit music.
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