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Age Verification Is Coming for the Whole Internet
Around the world, more users are being asked the same question: Can we see some ID?
In July, the United Kingdom began implementing major parts of the Online Safety Act, a law that, in the government’s words, “protects children and adults online” by putting “a range of new duties on social media companies and search services, making them more responsible for their users’ safety on their platforms.” Chief among these duties is “age assurance” — that is, figuring out how old users are to prevent them from seeing pornography; content that “encourages, promotes, or provides instructions” for self-harm, eating disorders, and suicide; and, among other things, “content which depicts or encourages serious violence or injury.” The basic idea here — that children shouldn’t be actively served wildly inappropriate content in the course of conducting their regular lives online — sounds reasonable enough. It’s too early to know how this law will settle into full implementation, but its implications are clear: For determined kids, it’s relatively easy to cheat; for everyone else, suddenly required to prove their ages, it’s a major privacy setback.
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