Topic: What do you all think about age verification?

It's all over the internet at the moment here in the UK with even talk of certain sites YouTube etc, barring access if you're using a VPN. there's talk of a whole host of other sites being set to undergo this ludicrous scrutiny too.
I think it's the thin end of the wedge and that we could soon see it implemented into games as well, those that are deemed to have 'inappropriate content' can you imagine having to go through an age verification just to play GTA 6 or the latest Hellraiser game. And I know some folks will say what's the problem and gladly hand over their ID 'If you're not doing anything wrong there's nothing to worry about right' WRONG every step taken towards a controlling state is a step too far.
I don't think that it's being talked about enough or certainly not protested about enough.
Do we all think that it's alright to live in some kind of Orwellian dystopia where the government gets to control
absolutely everything that we do or consume.
If the goal is really to protect the kids from harm, then why isn't the onus shifted onto the parents to pay closer attention to what they're actually doing on the internet (And c'mon we all know it isn't really about protecting the kids it's about CONTROL! they want to know exactly what you're doing at all times)
Not good, not good at all.. get up on your soapbox and shout, I for one will fight against this, do you care enough to join me?

EDIT: Well it's supposed to be happening on YouTube starting 13/08/2025, what I can't understand is why everyone isn't screaming and shouting at the top of their voices about this and why there isn't any street protests are we REALLY OK with this just happening have we just given up and are willing to accept anything that the Government throws at us.. Truth is whatever the government says it is, protest is suppressed, dissent is squashed and your private thoughts are no longer private anymore, C'mon people FIGHT for what you know to be right!

Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jf3iV1MAqk

@Dhaladog, FREAKING AMEN! I absolutely hate the news about this in the UK that I've heard recently, it honestly makes me worry that the United States will try something similar. Honestly, my view is that if parents really want to protect their children from "inappropriate stuff", there are Parental Controls to make use of already. This new age verification system absolutely screams "government wanting control" with the disguise of "Let's make the parents' responsibility easier for them". Honestly, I feel like a lot of people are way too overprotective of children, including ones that aren't their own, anyway. Part of the reason that I'm still learning how to get along with people is because I haven't had much contact with others is due to my parents really believed in the "stranger danger" philosophy a lot when I was younger (not so much now, thankfully). All of this aversion to "inappropriate stuff" is probably why Nintendo of America has started canceling North American eShop versions of games like Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth Collection (which I was actually interested in purchasing, by the way. Yay Playasia releasing it physically so I still have a chance to obtain it!). It's because a lot of people are manbabies when it comes to content like that. But hardly anyone complains about "inappropriate stuff" in American shows as much as they complain about that stuff in anime, even if the stuff in American shows is sometimes worse. Kind of stupid, honestly. And it's a shame that this site seemingly doesn't want to fight back against this new age verification system and is willing to follow stupid new laws just to make sure it doesn't happen to them. I swear, if I wasn't using this site to get more talking with others experience and get my daily source of Nintendo news, I would've quit already even though it's quite fun simply for other reasons. Anyway, Internet age verification is, and always will be, ******* crap. I really hope the UK gives up on this thing, because otherwise, my sometimes stupid country might do the same thing. If that ever came to pass, I would start planning how to live most of my life offline.

"every step taken towards a controlling state is a step too far."

Tell em', brother! (Or sister, or whatever you are)

It's pretty much just an excuse to let parents not really doing any parenting imo, like what the *****?

Also i'm pretty sure that it'll end up with spreading what is inappropriate and so on. Even the one on UK already banned stuff like LGBTQ+ kind of thing, or for people who just want to browse maybe alcohol stuff?

Blah. Parents should just be a parent and either use parental control or learn how to do DNS blocking and so on. You want to have kids then take care of them, not pawning it off to the government and making issues for other adults.

Its simple, as long as who arent doing anything devious you dont have anything to worry about now do you?. The only ones who will have a problem with this is the underage people who are trying to play stuff they shouldn't be that's all. If your not underage what does it matter. And if you are underage then just wait till your old enough.

@Tasuki that's a very simplistic way of looking at it, considering the issue of how this is also hitting stuff like queer subreddits that should have never been counted as adult only, or the wikipedia issues where the contributors can end up having troubles.

There's also things like, they are verifying ***** with AI companies, and how can you trust them to even delete things? Like, we just had that Tea app promising to delete IDs and what happened was that it gets spread around instead because the database has it all.

There's also the issue where if the things people want to get can be a little blah for most people, and them government can easily connects people's buying of certain things to them and so on.

We already have huge issues on privacy, there's no need to add more.

It's dumb and bad. I agree with @darkfenrir 1000%. Don't make everybody else's lives worse because some people don't know how to parent.

@Tasuki
That's a very simplistic view. Here in Australia they're currently looking at a social media ban for children, legacy media loves it and is lapping it up. Conservative groups are jumping for joy. But they're already expanding the definition of social media to include YouTube

But what does this even mean? How do you verify that I'm old enough? They're talking about facial recognition, ID, all sorts. So you might say why would I worry, I have nothing to hide. But another angle is that maybe I don't want to give every site and app I want to interact with an image of my face. Or a point of identity

Do I really trust these corporations to keep my details secure? No. Not a chance. So I don't think it's a particularly great idea to require them to hoover up even more by law. Rockstar doesn't need my driver's licence, and I wouldn't trust them with it

And in any case, what is gained from this? Some political capital amongst the "will somebody think of the children" crowd. No thanks

I don't usually talk about this sort of thing, so here's me in rare form.

The YouTube one is actually really bad. YouTube is actually going to be using AI to determine whether you're under 18 or not by using the videos you watch. Let's say, you're over 18, and you watch a video marked "for kids." The AI can determine you're under 18 based on that, and restrict your account. If you're an adult, and they did it by mistake, you can clarify by sending them a pic of your ID, a selfie, or credit card number.

I'm old enough to remember when being taught Internet safety in school, giving out personal information is something that's dangerous to do. With data breaches and hackers out there, it's not safe at all to even give out your ID out online.

Also, this worries me. I'm a fan of a lot of cartoons and animation, especially shows and movies deemed kid and family friendly. I'm also an adult. If I watch like the Trolls shorts on YouTube, or put on a Powerpuff Girls compilation in the background, full episodes posted by their official YouTube channel, or even watch family friendly movies (which my digital library on YouTube/Movies Anywhere consists of), then the AI will think I'm a kid, when I'm not. I'm just an adult, who likes cartoons and animation. I've always loved cartoons and animation, that will never change about me.

In short, it feels like YouTube is going to punish me for being an adult who likes cartoons, and I feel like there's nothing I can do about it other than stop watching cartoons, which I won't. This whole thing has me really worried. Especially since I put on YouTube a lot for gaming videos and other interesting topics, but also love watching my favorite cartoons.

@Sunsy, if this YouTube AI thing is actually going to be happening... oh no... oh no... I actually really like AI and it's potential, but that sounds absolutely horrible...

If youtube wants to keep kids safe, tweak the algorithm to prioritize safety into over engagement, so that they aren't exposed to elsagate or minecraft gregnant meme 90450394503986043698

Classification of thumbnails and descriptions, and even video content is something Google can do. They just haven't moderated using that and it sucks.

I think identifying users based on age and maturity is a faulty metric as both are easily faked and manipulated for the worse all the time by bad actors or just plain liars.

I think it should be a platform's responsibility to push users to behave safely and to exist in spaces where they are safe.

@ShieldHero Yeah, some YouTubers have been talking about it, a channel called Deep Humor has been on top of it. Basically, if you watch stuff YouTube considers a younger audience would like, it risks your account to get restrictions until you can prove you're over 18. It's going to be done by AI, which won't be reliable.

Really bad for anyone over 18 who still loves cartoons and animation, like me. I don't even watch age-restricted videos. Mostly just gaming and my favorite cartoons.

It isn't about "protecting the kids." These lawmakers use children as a shield to get what they really want. They're ultimately just attempting to police what adults can't or can look at online. What things they're allowed and aren't allowed to purchase. What art they can engage with and make from art they aren't allowed to engage with nor make. Corporations want your ID so that they can harvest the one piece of data that they still do not have on you. Governments want you to have your IDs submitted so that they can track every little thing you do online, and tie it back to your real person.

This is a disastrous move and will kill the free internet as we know it. A lot of people in minority groups rely on the internet for an exchange of ideas, or an escape from those who oppress them in the real world. Something which is only going to get worse, as these laws are targeting members of the LGBTQ+ community. Not too long ago, a trans woman got banned on Linkedin for a "fraudulent identity" as her pronouns on her profile didn't match with the pronouns on her government ID- something she couldn't change because she wasn't allowed to do so within the state she lived in. If all sites require this ID to be accessed, more people are going to hit that block where their accounts are banned for "Fraudulent information." More people are going to be silenced. In America- you could be silenced for who you voted for, or for your politics. Right now, one of the states are allowing doctors to legally be able to deny you the right to their services if you voted Democrat. This is just going to be a wider example of outright discrimination, all wrapped up in the sweet promise of parents no longer having to parent their own kids.

A government should never be the parent of your children. The collective should not have to suffer just because you decided to have kids- and decided not to restrict their access online or monitor what they're exposed to. I never want kids myself, and it's sad that I'm going to have to be forced to exist in a world where everything is dumbed down just for the sake of "protecting" the kids. The same kids most of these politicians don't care for- unless they can abuse them and exploit them for their own personal gratification.

@Tasuki "Those who aren't doing anything devious have nothing to worry about."

Tell that to all the trans people who are going to end up getting oppressed by conservatives who have been lying about them pushing "fetishes" into children's faces. The conservative party in America at the very least are trying to make it to where any trans or gay person is blanketed as a "pedophile," and sentenced to the death penalty for just existing. This is only going to aid them with mass internet censorship.

@VoidofLight,

"It isn't about "protecting the kids." These lawmakers use children as a shield to get what they really want. They're ultimately just attempting to police what adults can't or can look at online."

Agreed, I can tell that this is their goal, and I hate every lawmaker that believes like that with every ounce of my soul. In all honesty, I've gotten really tired of the "protect the minors!" Philosophy that is rampant in my home country, the United States. I watch a ton of anime with some rather suggestive material, and read books with content like that as well. I am technically still a minor (I'm currently 16 years old) but I don't want to be "protected" by a government, I want to have control over my own life.

"Right now, one of the states are allowing doctors to legally be able to deny you the right to their services if you voted Democrat."

Shouldn't an individual doctor get to decide what patients they treat though? Yeah, I agree that's not the kindest thing in the world, but... if the government forces them to use their services on anyone who asks, isn't that still just government control, which is what we don't want? Personally, I think that individual businesses / websites should be able to decide their own standards on what content is and isn't allowed, even if they sometimes go a little too far. That also means that other people can easily start their own businesses and websites that have less restrictions to try to appeal to people like me, who really like that. For example, if Google starts doing the AI age identification thing for YouTube, a different company could advertise a YouTube alternative that doesn't do that to appeal to people who dislike it. Now if the government itself is controlling what individual companies allow on their platforms, that is going too far for me, and if I really don't like the way an individual company / website does censorship, I just stay away from it completely. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I'm still undecided about the Switch 2 is because Nintendo of America canceled the American release of Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth Collection for "not complying with Nintendo guidelines" even though the game released in Japan just fine. I could tell they did this because of the suggestive material in the game, because other similar games had their US releases canceled for similar listed reasons while still releasing in Japan (thankfully, I still have the opportunity to get the Re;Birth games physically on Playasia). As an individual company subsidiary, Nintendo of America has the right to decide what content is on their platform. However, I also have the right to complain about it and / or boycott Nintendo's products. I do agree that the best companies / websites are the ones that don't shove values in my face and just let me be me. If YouTube is gonna start shoving values in my face... my relationship with the service might as well be over.

@Sunsy Society can't even define what being polite is and the markers of it, how are we supposed to trust an automated system to identify maturity, which is infinitely more complex than being polite, and then extract age from that? The information gets less reliable at each step.

Any method I can think of would probably target things like "do they watch this?" instead of things closer to biological markers like intelligence, emotional processing, typing speed, how they react to disagreement.

real biological markers aren't available online. so we can only infer through mental capabilities what age a user is, and that grows less reliable as people have different mental capabilities and even disabilities as they age.

The best if not still faulty way to get that information from comments which kids aren't allowed to even make + youtube's bigger more detailed data is watch time, and the billions of hours of video they have so they'd use that instead, which leads back to faulty metrics.

Most people grow up with things they're still interested in today as a normal part of their life.

@VoidofLight
I don't buy into the conspiracy that it's about government trying to control or corporations trying to hoover up more data. Because for one thing they can do that without this kind of legislation but also these corporations are firmly against this action. Google or Meta don't want to be legally responsible for this stuff, and they don't want to reduce the appeal of their platforms

And on the government side, while I do think this kind of thing is going to be another tool that could be used. I don't think that's why they're doing it. They're doing it because the majority of the public is on board, they want this, it's popular. In the same way that things like "tough on crime" campaigns work. People don't see the details or consider the possible impacts, they just see the glossy pamphlet

And again, my major concern in this is how these companies will deal with this data that by definition has to identify me. Because there isn't exactly a great track record of these companies in terms of data leaks

@skywake I wouldn't call it a "Conspiracy," given that this whole thing is literally being used to push LGBTQ+ people off of the internet. Even if they aren't using this as a way to steal data- it's still going to be used as a way for companies or governments to deny people services for identities or who they are as people. First it will start at "barring minors," but then it'll pivot into "protecting minors from the LGBT Pedophiles!!!!"

In my country at the very least, they are setting the stage to oppress masses of people- and this is one of those said moves. Maybe not all people in office are going to vote for KOSA because of ill intent- but the law is a push into the direction of dictating what sort of art can or cannot be made, and what sort of people are and aren't allowed to speak their minds. They're using children as a front in order to silence the people they don't like. Just like how they've been using trans people as a scapegoat and have been conflating them with child groomers for years.

@ShieldHero There's a difference. Doctors being forced to help people regardless of political standing is an anti-discrimination measure. I'd say "as all people have a right to medical care," but then insurance exists in order to bar who can and cannot have medical care. Doctors being able to reject to save a person's life because of their political standing should not be allowed regardless. It's basically telling someone they have no right to live because they disagree with your politics.

@Sunsy One of the ID's is credit card info. If Youtube is doing the ID checks themselves is that really so bad to provide given they already have my credit card info as I have Youtube Premium? Or maybe Premium users won't get flagged in the first place for that reason?

I suspect many of us might potentially get caught up in it just from watching Nintendo related videos :-/