The Electronic Frontier Foundation urges US policymakers to pay attention.
opinionThe enforcement of the U.K.’s Online Safety Act is providing internet users worldwide—including individuals in U.S. states considering similar age verification legislation—with immediate evidence that such regulations affect everyone’s freedom to express, read, and access content. …
The updated OSA regulations mandate that all online services available in the UK—such as social media platforms, search engines, music websites, and adult content sites—implement age verification processes to prevent children from accessing “harmful material.” Online services are also required to modify their algorithms and content moderation systems to ensure such material is not visible to young users.
Social media platforms such as Reddit, Bluesky, Discord, and X have all implemented age verification measures to prevent minors from accessing harmful content; adult websites have also introduced age confirmation checks on their platforms, requiring users to either upload a government-issued ID, provide an email address for cross-referencing with other sites, or share personal details with a third-party service for age validation. Websites like Spotify are now asking users to provide facial scans to a third-party digital identity company called Yoti in order to access content marked as 18+.
The definition of what is considered “harmful content” is often open to interpretation and can be inconsistent, leading to the removal of material that officials or company executives may dislike — even if the content is legally permissible. When combined with legislation that imposes significant penalties or potential imprisonment for non-compliance, platforms tend to err on the side of excessive censorship to avoid any legal responsibility.
Reports from the UK indicate that age verification measures are being utilized to restrict content that does not align with the OSA across various online platforms. This encompasses videos depicting police confronting pro-Palestinian demonstrators being restricted on X, several subreddits such as r/IsraelExposed, r/safesexPH, and r/stopsmoking being banned, and some smaller websites shutting down completely.
No individual — regardless of their age or the country they reside in — should be required to present their passport or driver’s license in order to access legal information or express themselves freely. Users in the United Kingdom are aware of this issue: Shortly after age verification measures were implemented, VPN applications — which safeguard your online connection and privacy — ranked among the most frequently downloaded apps on Apple’s App Store in the UK.
A comparable increase in searches for VPNs was observed in January when Florida became part of a growing number of U.S. states enacting age verification laws. However, although VPNs can conceal the origin of online activity, they are not completely reliable and do not serve as a remedy for age verification regulations. Ofcom has begun advising against their use, and certain Labour Party officials have proposed banning VPNs — a concerning move toward exerting authoritarian influence over access to information.
This control system also reaches into the physical world, based on the dismissive and incorrect belief that everyone possesses an official identification document or their own smartphone. Millions in the UK and US do not have official ID, and many may share a device with relatives or use public devices at libraries or internet cafés. These individuals—often low-income or elderly people who are already disadvantaged, and for whom the internet is a vital connection—will be barred from online communication and will lose access to much of the web, further limiting their ability to obtain information and participate online.
Some U.S. officials appear to recognize the signs. “The UK now mandates identification to read about Middle East politics, visit r/stopsmoking, and listen to nearly any hip hop music online,” wrote U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-OR, on X, noting that following the Wikimedia Foundation’s unsuccessful court battle against the OSA, “accessing Wikipedia could be next. Once websites implement age verification in the U.K., there’s little to prevent them from doing the same in the U.S.”
That viewpoint is supported across party lines. Following a trip to the UK in late July, Jim Jordan, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee from Ohio, released a statement claiming that the OSA “creates a significant negative impact on free speech and poses a threat to the First Amendment rights of American citizens and businesses.”
“We absolutely must safeguard children and ensure that these platforms are free from harmful, illegal content — but when governments or bureaucratic entities restrict speech under the guise of safety or regulation, it creates a perilous precedent that endangers the fundamental principles of Western democratic values,” Jordan stated.
Meanwhile, numerous state and federal U.S. legislators are pushing forward aggressively. Twenty-four states have already enacted some form of age verification censorship legislation, with additional states exploring similar measures, as certain bipartisan bills in Congress aim to implement comparable policies.
The UK’s urgent search for a reliable age verification system highlights the absence of a suitable solution, and it’s time for politicians worldwide to address this seriously—particularly those considering similar laws in the U.S. Instead of undermining the rights of already vulnerable online communities, governments everywhere should recognize these flaws and seek less intrusive alternatives—like thorough privacy laws—to safeguard everyone from online dangers, especially as authoritarianism grows globally.
Leaders from the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries should focus on what is most beneficial, rather than what is simplest.
Paige Collings serves as a Senior Speech and Privacy Advocate with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to digital civil liberties located in San Francisco.
