Topic: What do you all think about age verification?

@VoidofLight
To be fair, I was talking about what is happening in Australia ATM on this topic. I would say our current government, who burnt a whole bunch of political capital trying and failing to get Indigenous recognition into the constitution, is NOT doing this as a back door to persecute minorities. I think they're just doing it because it's popular, and easy, and scores them some political points

So yeah, without question I would say the motivations for this kind of thing in somewhere like the US or even more specifically Florida? They're a bit different. And a bit more overt in creating tools they can abuse like this. But I would still say most of the time with this kind of thing, and certainly here in Australia right now, I don't think the intent is to create a tool that can be abused. I think the intentions are often fairly reasonable. But reasonable or not, they're creating tools that CAN be abused by future governments

For example, because Nazis are a thing we have to deal with again now there have been laws introduced in various states banning people from displaying Nazi symbols. And you'd say fair enough right? We don't like Nazis, throw the book at Nazis. But then you see this law being applied and.... there was an advertiser who during the last election campaign put images in his shop window showing billionaires and conservative leaders in Nazi uniforms. Which is now against the law and he gets taken to court..... I think it's fair to say, I don't think that was the intent of that law

In any case, I would still say my major concern with the Australian laws at this time is not the creation of another tool that can be abused by future governments. It is a concern, but it's not the main concern. I would say the main concern is the requirement in law of websites to identify me. And I don't think we should trust corporations with even more of our data

Side note, but putting extra requirements on websites also tends to bias the internet towards large corporate websites who have the resources ro easily make that type of change over small indie websites. I realize the current Internet is already largely run by the big guys, but this type of regulation pushes in the same direction.

It should be noted that 5 or 10 states already have laws of this nature, mostly passed in the last couple years. Quite a few more states are considering it. The fact that they are all 'red' states definitely points towards this being a political issue rather than an actual child safety issue.

@FishyS, hearing this reminds me that most of the time I really love my country, but sometimes I really hate it.

@skywake,

"But then you see this law being applied and.... there was an advertiser who during the last election campaign put images in his shop window showing billionaires and conservative leaders in Nazi uniforms. Which is now against the law and he gets taken to court"

I'm neither conservative nor liberal but in terms of my values I'm just slightly more conservative, and I think that this is absolutely scary as heck. Why have I not heard of this until now.

George Orwell’s 1984 is no longer fictional…

I'm supportive of the idea of protecting kids online, definitely. But I think in practice the UK's implementation is a bit of a ****show for many of the reasons brought up here.

But honestly, I think explicit/adult content is just a drop in the ocean of harmful things kids are exposed to on the Internet. I would liken age verification for this content to applying a filter to cigarettes - sure you're doing something, but the harm is still there. If I were a parent I'd be careful w/ my kids' screen time generally (I appreciate this is harder than it sounds). I say this as someone who largely grew up with the Internet - but it has really grown into a different beast since the 90s/00s.

There are some wild takes in this thread. Well in America…lol not touching that, if I watched porn as child I’d be normal today…eew double not touching that etc.

I’m seeing lots of blame the parents takes though which is just lazy, seems like it’s coming from people who aren’t parents and are out of touch. Reminds me of the country wide debate earlier in the year from the drama series Adolescence (highly recommended btw) which is about how out of touch the adults are to the kids and the impact of online to them. Internet access is so widely available now, I can literally get it for free on an underground train as it’s that easy so putting parental controls on the home internet will do sod all. As we are seeing the first generation raised on the internet there’s big problems, one thing that boggles my mind are kids being over exposed to extreme porn meaning they are strangling each other and putting things in the wrong holes from repeating what they saw rather than organically finding their sexuality for example. The majority of what is proposed isn’t even radical new rules, it’s just enforcing them like if you wanted to see an 18 rating movie at the cinema or buy a dirty mag you’d be asked for ID if you were a child.

There are big problems with this system set up like a too broad of a definition, data protection issues, legal costs for small companies etc but it’s definitely not 1984 (bet the smart people using that reference haven’t even read it) just because it takes an extra step for an adult to play GTA or watch their weird hentai movies, that just comes off as self entitlement.

Therein lies a major difficulty. You can lock down the Internet, but a kid can get a different source of Internet. You can lock down a device, but if there is a passcode or something, the kid will inevitably sneak it from their parents. You can give them no device but that's a safety issue and there may be a computer or whatever in the household anyways. You can get them a very basic device but then they can just use their friends device or a parents device which is lying around. You can make every website authenticated by faces rather than passcodes and then you are allowing every random company to get access to cameras and video your children which... seems dangerous. There may be better solutions but they are not typically what politicians jump on and it would have to be regulations and parents and society as a whole working together.

I'm definitely not saying children should watch smut, but if you age lock information about e.g. gay people, because it is 'adult' that is definitely hindering many people naturally finding their sexuality as well. Saying 'that type of thing could only happen in country X, not my country' is just a convenient way to not think about possible consequences.

Agree on this. In terms of actual smut, the internet is already much more regulated than it was in the 90s/00s. Not saying it's anywhere near perfect obviously. But in terms of social media and mental health effects on kids, in terms of the bizarre uprising of pushing conspiracy theories and lies even in 'news' websites, in terms of all-encompassing targeted ad placements... the internet has become pretty frickin awful and I have no idea how one makes that better for kids.

I think the unfortunate reality is that even understandable laws of restricting X or Y are regularly supported by the worst right wing extremists because they want to find ways to ban things they don't like, and so any law about that in any way needs to be treated with as much skepticism as humanly possible because of that.

And there's just way too many questions as it relates to things that are not being targeted. Like why is Roblox allowed to be as incompetent as it is with dealing with actual child exploitation that has happened in actual reality? Why has Youtube been famously slow to deal with highly questionable content targeted towards kids? Why does anyone think Youtube using their ID system and AI to block access to who they decide is underaged is gonna be anything but a disaster? Why is the UK pretending to care about kids when they'll make a game M rated for having fake casino elements but will allow E rated games that try to get kids addicted to microtransactions?

These are all just off the top of my head with no research needed.

@FishyS let’s take this out of the hypothetical, what LGBTQ+ culture has actually been affected by this? Teens can’t go on Grinder now (not a fan of the app, I’ve got a friend who had a bad experience with it) but being gay hasn’t been banned or censored by this and you can still research gaydom.

The bigger issue for me is LGBTQ kids is losing the right to remain anonymous since a few (but not all) smaller local communities sites have been replaced with Facebook groups however there will be some kind of work around.

My take on this is it’s a good idea but badly implemented and getting annoyed with silly people moaning about nonsense like their right to play GTA.

The thread title is about age verification in general, not just the UK law. I know you said 'not touching America' but there are bills here people are trying to pass to let this exact type of age verification clamp down on LGBTQ+ information. Some of the laws already passed are about 'Harmful Content to children' which in some states is being interpreted as LGBT information.

I need to say that Moist Critikal literally just uploaded a video on this exact issue that was on my recommended in the minutes since I wrote this, this is how current this conveniently ignored problem is.

@FishyS well if we are touching America then the problem isn’t really age verification but how America is a naturally more conservative country and gay classifications is a separate issue. Folk forget Roosevelt was under popular pressure to side with the Nazis in WW2 until Pearl Harbour and now they don’t shut up about it like how they rewrite the history of the Wild West with terrible cowboy films.

Anyway Americans have my sympathy !

My 2 cents, as a dad of kids ages 11 & 9 - I genuinely really back the concept of age verification, and providing an extra barrier between the kids and content that may be unsuitable etc.

However, the execution seems somewhat haphazard.... a case of picking and choosing what we deem to be 'harmful' - whilst Roblox runs amok with micro-transaction exploitation!!

@jump I've read 1984. And Darkness at Noon. And The Gulag Archipelago. And... any number of dystopias, not to mention first-hand accounts of left-wing and right-wing dictatorships, but I guess "smart" people like me don't exist.

I admit I'm deeply disappointed in your comment, Mr. jump (it's becoming a trend). So we're not getting to the dystopia because of an oh-so-literary nuclear war or sudden global collapse - does that mean the salami tactics that we're seeing (another historical reference people like me must not understand) won't take us to a bad place regardless? Look, I read your comments in these forums regardless, and I'm expecting fewer and fewer people here to agree with me as I go along. Humanity is determined to learn things the hard way, the destructive way, in the 21st century, I get that. Hopefully, after all the destruction, the historical lessons will take, and maybe last longer than 80 years or so. But as for you and I, please don't dismiss everyone with opposing viewpoints as not having done their homework - that is lazy, quite frankly.

But then again, it's my own fault for expecting better. The UK is the country that implemented CCTV so early, then the Snooper's Charter, then Brexit, so this is on-brand. Mr. Eric Blair knew what he was about, and not just in his novels. ... I need to read and post here a lot less.

@CANOEberry Hell, I've even watched the movie adaptation with John Hurt and Suzanna Hamilton. Those nude scenes did come across as gratuitous at first, and I think they pushed it a little far, but they were trying to make a point which was actually pertinent here, and which the novel clearly addressed. Controlling sex and the expression of sex is something that oppressive governments regularly attempt, because it represents a potent energy that is inherently beyond state control. Yes, we're not living in that colourless totalitarian world, but any step in that direction is dangerous and must be carefully watched, if not outright opposed. And all of this because we're afraid that teenage boys might see a woman's chest... yep, that's unnatural, that is. Gotta stamp that right out.

But I think people here aren't going to get it until companies like NCL or Microsoft sell your gaming data to, oh, I don't know, your employers, or maybe credit agencies - don't want our workers to rack up hours doing wasteful things like gaming, do we? Yes yes, I'm crazy - we'll see if the future bears that out, won't we?

Anyways, moderators - don't worry, I'm done, I'm going. I'm back to paddling next week, we'll all be happier.

@CANOEberry the 2nd post is much appreciated, the first one is the same bad faith but more wordy arguments of ‘but it’s 1984!!!’ that was annoying me to begin with.

Side note I’ve been meaning to watch the John Hurt version of the movie ever since he died. Seems to have gotten an iffy reception so I’ve not put it on the top of my to watch list.

Is the government actually trying to control sex like you’re suggesting? I don’t think so as since the age verification came in nothing has changed for me and my partner or when I checked in a few ahem sites.

Boys seeing a chest isn’t really the concern, not for me at least. The average xxx sites have gone very extreme with degradation, pain, incest “role play” (why is this so popular?) etc being up front and centre on the homepage has made this type of sex the norm for the average idiot impressionable child so you’re ending up with girls not climaxing since they don’t see that in the vids and boys think they need to strangle and choke her to get off. I discovered this after having to give a sex talk to a teenager recently and then later found out this is common with gen z coming of age. I’m not even against the kids strangling and degrading each other as they make whoopee, it just shouldn’t be drilled into them that this is sex before they have experienced sex.

There are plenty of points that will make me agree this is bad but repeatedly name dropping 1984 and saying kids should watch porn aren’t two of them.

This has been happening on UK too though, not just America because queer is somehow inherently harmful in their mind: https://www.reddit.com/r/transgenderUK/comments/1m8kb4m/reddi...

and then not as related but important anyway: https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/07/22/uk-online-legislatio...

Volunteer safety, which I think is really important especially concerning information and so on.

Honestly, I think just thinking of protecting the child and so adults have to have issues imo are really bad as well, like... do we need to think of the children, on some level it's yes, but on more levels it's also complicated and nuanced than what is happening. Just nodding and saying hmm, putting ID on adult websites seems to be okay (maybe to you, but i'm looking at my country for example, where being gay could possibly having me jailed or killed by mobs and so on, and if the country could connect me to things I read online, and then that thing leaked off... it's pretty dangerous, especially since my country is a leaked sieve concerning personal data (we have gotten various data leaks over the last few years))

and this is not counting the whole issues of more extreme stuff that is being pushed elsewhere, where even if you are adults, you aren't really being allowed to like certain kind of stuff (Visa / Mastercard issue, but I suppose that's not as into age verification as this thread is about)

I'd just think that, after a lifetime of being told not to share my personally identifying information with anyone online, it's one hell of a u-turn.

@darkfenrir If Reddit had actually made all LGBTQ+ content adult only I would not be able to access your link to the Trans subreddit. I also had a look and the gay sub Reddit and other similar reddits are also still available whilst I now can’t access various NSFW subreddits.

Maybe an overly simplistic view but are we not seeing the forest through the trees and the actual issue is homosexuality is illegal in your country?

I fully agree with being anonymous is a worrisome issue. Oddly if the government where running the age verification process/system themselves I’d expect a better standard of data protection rather than allowing third party opportunists doing it as cheaply as possibly for a quick buck but then that would leave them open to “but it’s 1984” remarks.