How will the UK ban on social media for under 16s work?

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would impose a ban on social media sites for children under 16 and restrictions on gaming and livestreaming ​platforms to “give kids their childhood back”. The government said it would block children using social media Read More …

Children say they can beat age checks by drawing on a fake mustache

It’s been months since the UK government began requiring stronger age checks under the Online Safety Act, and recent research suggests those measures are falling short of keeping kids away from harmful content. In some cases, even drawing on a Read More …

Europe rolls out online age verification app to protect young people

Europe doesn’t want to hear any more excuses from tech platforms for why they can’t verify users’ ages. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday announced a new European age verification app that will give users a sort Read More …

Age verification vendor Persona left frontend exposed

Researchers investigating Discord’s age-verification checks say they discovered an exposed frontend belonging to Persona, the identity-verification vendor used by Discord. It revealed a far more expansive surveillance and financial intelligence stack than a simple “teen safety” tool. A short while Read More …

In 2025, age checks started locking people out of the internet

If 2024 was the year lawmakers talked about online age verification, 2025 was the year they actually flipped the switch.​ In 2025, across parts of Europe and the US, age checks for certain websites (especially pornography) turned long‑running child‑protection debates Read More …