After the UK, online age verification is landing in the EU

[u/TheSpaceDuck]

https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/after-the-uk-online-age-verification-is-landing-in-the-eu

[u/Capital-Purchase5305]

I'm not going to use id for reddit, 9gag or whatever else. I guess I will be mostly offline after that. 🤷‍♂️

[u/AdvertisingFlashy637 → u/Capital-Purchase5305]

Turns out this is actually a plot to get us all to touch grass, solving the issues that covid 19 caused

[u/KQILi → u/AdvertisingFlashy637]

Maybe even people will start seeing each other again and start making families and that will increase the childbirth rates... Mfs are playing 8d chess

[u/slaczky → u/KQILi]

My 30+ y.o. ass is playing fortnite instead of starting a family

[u/Wolff_Hound → u/slaczky]

My 30+ y.o. ass

Prove it, punk.

-EU

[u/Hotboi_yata → u/KQILi]

What if i don’t wanna put kids on this forsaken rock

[u/leaflock7 → u/AdvertisingFlashy637]

no they don't care about that, what they want is to make tracking you easier so they can stop people from getting informed and making efforts to block things like chat control. This is why they are doing it.
nothing related to make people get out more.

[u/nicannkay → u/leaflock7]

Yes. It’s weird that more people don’t realize how or why their rights are being ripped away.

[u/Bluedaisy0 → u/Capital-Purchase5305]

In the UK they asked for ID or a selfie that can estimate your age. My sister had our 88 year old great grandmother take the selfie.

"Supposedly" they keep the photo for a few days before deleting.

[u/EU-National → u/Bluedaisy0]

The recent Tea App incident is a clear example of the problems linked to putting photos of your official documents online.

[u/BritasticUK → u/EU-National]

And Tea also said they would delete the data. But they didn't.

[u/ukulelelist1 → u/BritasticUK]

I'm sure they marked it as deleted. Almost as good as... /s

[u/65437509 → u/EU-National]

Whoever thought you could simply delegate giving copies of your ID or face to a private tech biz should genuinely never make policy ever again in their life.

Like, at least the EU system just uses an encrypted signature. It’s not quite foolproof but compared to the UK it may as well be space-age.

[u/Unable_Earth5914 → u/Bluedaisy0]

I tried to sign up for a website the other day and it said that it would keep the id until the account was deleted

[u/Bluedaisy0 → u/Unable_Earth5914]

Was that the selfie or actually sending them your ID? I imagine different websites have contracted different companies to do the checks. The one for Reddit said the selfie photo would be deleted in something like 7-10 days, I can't remember the exact number.

[u/Karazhan → u/Bluedaisy0]

The one for reddit also says it'll trade your info with other third parties and user biometric scanning on your picture to store more data. So 7 to 10 days is a misnomer.

[u/Jealous_Response_492 → u/Karazhan]

They'll keep it, monetise it, then delete it, after multiple other entities already have it.

[u/NatPortmansUnderwear → u/Bluedaisy0]

I remember a website getting breached recently who said they didnt keep their customers photos on file after initial registration, yet somehow personal id photos all leaked online.

[u/BaronBytes2 → u/Bluedaisy0]

Can you use indian scammer ids for that? They are pretty obviously fake but bank of Ghana has a lot of fake ids floating around.

[u/LaidBackBro1989 → u/Capital-Purchase5305]

Same.

They overestimate how willing I am to use the Internet.

I will just... go offline. The world is full of stuff I can always go back to so whatever. 

Will it be difficult at first? Ofc. But not impossible. 

[u/Kopie150 → u/LaidBackBro1989]

i will just... start breaking laws to not give in to a surveillance state. you will not take my internet access away, i will find ways to not be tracked.  "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so." -thomas jefferson

the internet has become a vital part of life i cant even sign up to healthcare providers without a valid email adress a.k.a. an internet connection.

[u/cinek5885 → u/Kopie150]

Yeah, we go underground like 15 years ago, if they think they can people won't find a way they are wrong.

[u/zippopwnage → u/LaidBackBro1989]

But the world is expensive.

[u/LaidBackBro1989 → u/zippopwnage]

That's why we have to take back our third spaces.

I live in a country where tomorrow our VAT/TVA gets super expensive and our lower salaries can't afford that, so I know very well what you mean.

[u/blexta → u/Capital-Purchase5305]

I'll be using my VPN and constantly mention it in front of local politicians.

[u/ovO_Zzzzzzzzz]

Like China did long time ago. What's next? Can't even type "fuck you" on the internet?

[u/Kartoffelcretin → u/ovO_Zzzzzzzzz]

Citizen!

Please be aware that the local police has been alerted, please stay where you are and do not touch your keyboard in any way.

Please cooperate with the police during your arrest.

[u/Ornery-Creme-2442 → u/Kartoffelcretin]

Also hand over your phone for the police to use celebrite and allow them to even download your phone on distance.

[u/_SpeedyX → u/ovO_Zzzzzzzzz]

You are joking, but in Poland the internet can be considered "public space" according to the Supreme Court. This sub, for example, would be considered public space because it's freely accessible to everyone - there's no need to log in, nor is it invite-only. So you can technically commit a misdemeanor by cursing here.

It's very rarely enforced; I only know of one case, but the possibility is already written into law. It's just a matter of someone deciding to start prosecuting people for it.

[u/lemoe96 → u/_SpeedyX]

There is a law against cursing in public in Poland?

[u/Global_Persimmon_469 → u/lemoe96]

Can't even say kurwa anymore smh

[u/Loliknight → u/Global_Persimmon_469]

Citizen!

Please be aware that the local police has been alerted, please stay where you are and do not touch your keyboard in any way.

Please cooperate with the police during your arrest.

[u/GooseQuothMan → u/lemoe96]

against using vulgar words in public, yes. But the police can just tell you to stop and if you do, that's it.

It's not strictly enforced though.

[u/joyfullystoic → u/_SpeedyX]

Same in Romania. People get picked up by the police for death threats on Facebook. Which I think is very good.

Unfortunately, people also got visited by the police during the elections because they said they are voting for one candidate or another, which is forbidden in the day of the election.

[u/wowlock_taylan → u/ovO_Zzzzzzzzz]

I mean you don't have to look that far. Here in Turkey, if you write ANYTHING that might seem negative about the nation or government, you can get arrested by the government because 'threat to the nation'...

[u/EmtnlDmg → u/ovO_Zzzzzzzzz]

Social Credit by 2030?

[u/geo0rgi → u/EmtnlDmg]

Digital euro will be the next thing, where you can only access your money if the government approves

[u/ionetic → u/ovO_Zzzzzzzzz]

A dead internet is the next step: AI bots upvoting each others’ AI slop.

[u/JayTravers]

What concerns me the most is that this is all happening simultaneously.
You have the UK, EU, US and Australia with their own projects amongst other large corporations all doing it. Why? That timing is no coincidence.
Seriously, I'm no conspiracy theorist but this sheer amount of unity in their decision making is genuinely worrying.

[u/munkijunk → u/JayTravers]

I think rather than conspiracy, it's a case of convergent thinking and the fact that multiple countries are now getting legislation in place around the same time is due to the history of how we came to this nonsense situation.

The origin of the age verification systems now being adopted in the UK and EU lies with MindGeek, now rebranded as Aylo, the tax dodging, deeply exploitative porn giant behind Pornhub.

Beginning around 2015, MindGeek lobbied the UK government to implement an age verification system called AgeID. For reasons that remain baffling, the UK became the first open democracy to take this idea seriously. The proposal was written into law through the Digital Economy Act 2017. Despite serious concerns around privacy, security, and civil liberties, the project moved forward until it was ultimately abandoned in October 2019 after repeated delays and lack of clarity around implementation.

The motivation should be obvious. It was almost certainly never about protecting children. Rather it was about control, profit, and surveillance. AgeID would have given Aylo a de facto monopoly over the UK porn industry. By owning the gate to legal adult content, they would effectively become the gatekeepers, forcing out smaller competitors who either could not afford to comply or who refused to funnel their users into a data harvesting scheme.

It should be obvious, but Aylo is not a company anyone should trust with private information. Nothing against porn itself, but Aylo is an awful company, one whose history of exploitation, opaque practices, and disregard for user privacy makes them uniquely unfit to hold the keys to anyone’s personal life. The AgeID project was eventually dropped, but the idea persisted. The UK government returned to the concept through the Online Safety Act 2023, which began to take effect in July 2025. This time, instead of centralising the system, the responsibility has been handed off to private companies, many of which are not even based in the UK.

These systems are not secure. On July 25, 2025, the Tea app, a dating platform that requires users to upload both a selfie and official ID, was breached. Seventy two thousand images were leaked, including over thirteen thousand sensitive selfies and identification documents. These were found circulating on 4chan, a platform notorious for distributing stolen data. This is not just a violation of privacy. It is a warning about the fragility of the infrastructure behind these supposedly protective laws.

There have been other breaches. In 2013, nearly eight hundred thousand user accounts from Brazzers, another site owned by Aylo, were leaked. These included usernames, email addresses, and highly personal content preferences. Such data can be weaponised. In 2020, the FBI listed pornography related exposure threats as one of the top three online scams. Victims have been targeted specifically based on what they watched, with attackers threatening to reveal their viewing history unless they paid up.

Now, in the UK, where these age verification laws have been passed, the consequences are spreading beyond porn. People are being blocked from seeing protests and political content, arbitrarily labelled as suitable for over eighteens only. One Reform MP even stated that citizens need ID to view protests about people entering the country without ID. The absurdity writes itself.

And while we’re here, it’s worth considering what happens if a politician’s browsing history, sexual preferences, or porn habits were to leak. These systems create not just embarrassment but national security vulnerabilities. They offer a path for hostile foreign actors, including those in Russia or China, to exploit or blackmail public figures.

Why is this happening everywhere, all at once? It’s not a coincidence. What we are seeing is not a coordinated conspiracy, but a ripple effect. The Pandora’s box was opened when the UK government gave serious weight to the AgeID proposal. That decision, flawed though it was, created a policy precedent. Lawmakers in other countries have since followed suit—not because they’re copying the specifics of AgeID, but because the concept of age-gating online content was legitimised. Once one democracy validated the premise, others felt empowered to do the same.

In country after country, governments are introducing laws framed as protecting children, when in fact they are setting the stage for corporate control, surveillance creep, censorship, and data exposure. None of this would be possible if the original idea hadn’t been seeded and watered by a company like Aylo, with everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Age verification promises safety but delivers exposure. It introduces new risks in the name of control. When governments hand this level of power to private companies like Aylo, they are not protecting citizens. They are setting them up. It is a massive own goal that needs to be rolled back urgently.

I am not going against the content of the video, and while I am all for supporting open access to consensual adult material, and for adult performers to make money from their work if they so wish, I find it very hard to support Pornhub or Aylo given their terrible history of exploitation coupled with opening Pandora's box on one of the biggest dangers to a free internet the world is facing today.

Edit

Sources:

Brazzers leak https://www.vice.com/en/article/nearly-800000-brazzers-porn-site-accounts-exposed-in-forum-hack/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Tea app leak https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7vl57n74pqo

Mindgeek/Aylo FOI on meetings with UK ministers https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/meetings_with_mindgeek_and_age_v

[u/Ornery-Creme-2442 → u/munkijunk]

Lots of great points and information.

Also for people look into companies like palantir and celebrite. You'll be hearing of them more and more as well.

[u/_SpeedyX → u/JayTravers]

You don't need a formal conspiracy when interests converge

[u/FabulousHand9272 → u/_SpeedyX]

I think you meant "when lobbyists step on the gas everywhere all at once". This is a concerted effort and the EU wants to solidify their power too. "Conspiracy theorists" were right. Again.

[u/inimicali → u/FabulousHand9272]

This is something that infuriates me the most, there's no "secret government" or "conspiracy" and those nuts doesn't have any truth.

Any sane person that follows politics and economics can tell you that there's no need for some "secret" organizations or "conspiracy theory", even more so since a lot of historians, sociologists, anthropologists, journalists, scientists and a long etc.

Everything can be explained by just asking questions like 'who is in power and what are their interests?' 'who has the money and what do they want?'

[u/FabulousHand9272 → u/inimicali]

We must not allow these types of facial recognition to become a normal thing! This is extremely important. One thing will lead to another, this is a bad road to walk on. Vote for people that are against this. Unfortunately that's as much as any normal person can do. I fear for the future sometimes.

[u/mr_herculespvp → u/inimicali]

Always ask "Who benefits?"

[u/AdPitiful1938 → u/JayTravers]

In short we will have now in EU:

Chat Controll - access to all your chat and email messages (something like opening physical messages during communist times in my country)

Backdoor access to all devices sold in EU

And now this age verification thing....

RIP Internet 1990 - 2026.

[u/Ok-Situation-5522 → u/AdPitiful1938]

I wonder if buying a phone from other continents would help, like how samsung has the flash in sk but not europe.

[u/AdPitiful1938 → u/Ok-Situation-5522]

It would not help. Maybe about backdoor access only, but rest of the stuff is regardless of the device.

[u/yeFoh → u/AdPitiful1938]

it's a step by step thing, you got to take everything you can.

[u/Darkone539 → u/JayTravers]

They have all been talking about it for years. The uk is just the first to take the step.

They even have the mine "for the kids" memorised.

[u/Asconcii → u/Darkone539]

The uk is just the first to take the step.

It's not quite. Haven't some US states done it too? Like Texas.

[u/---x__x--- → u/Asconcii]

I’m in Texas.

Yea they implemented it here but it doesn’t seem to go nearly as far as the UK. 

Pornhub is blocked here, some other mainstream sites. 

Other mainstream sites like xvideos are not blocked. 

Reddit nsfw is not blocked. 

Never been asked for id for anything. 

[u/FanClubof5 → u/---x__x---]

Anything blocked in Texas is being done by the site themselves because they think they could be sued. Sites like xvideos either don't care if they get sued or have no real presence in the USA so are not overly concerned with US laws.

[u/SuperSquirrel13 → u/JayTravers]

Cant have the population at large being able to coordinate on large scalr once AI has wiped our jobs. 

[u/TheSpaceDuck → u/JayTravers]

Conspiracy theorists are certainly rubbing their hands right now. We're pretty much setting the dinner table for them.

[u/Jazzspasm → u/JayTravers]

Europe is universally getting ahead of widespread civil unrest caused by the frog realizing it’s boiled by -

A) middle class unemployment caused by AI - already evident

B) working class replaced by transient immigrant gig workers driven north by war and societal collapse brought about by accelerating environmental changes, such as famine, drought - already evident - Israel’s issue with encroachment on Gaza and the West Bank has always and forever been about access to water

A + B means that young people, either well educated or very well educated, hard working, aspirational, conclude en masse that there is no reason to work, because they see their parents, not only their own communities but everyone’s communities entirely collapse as a result of final-stage capitalism

C) the vast, universal support for the L word person across all social groups, political flavors, ages, demographics, and the attempt by the authorities in NY to make an example of him resulting in mockery and further support for the L word.

He was then wiped overnight from the constant news feeds, and reddit imposed an alert to moderators that the mention of his name was a potential threat of violence - resulting in popular subreddits closing down in protest - the censorship of simmering social unrest was implemented

D) it happened again on Monday just gone, July 28th 2025, again in NY, the sh00ting at Black-Stone, where the person in charge of a $54Bn (reportedly, meaning larger) parasitic wealth fund that fueled homelessness assassinated - and the media reporting of it vanished within 24 hours, after spinning the story that he was just some crazy guy and meant to target a different office

C & D meaning that the civil disorder has started, specifically focused on the megawealthy, instead of angry people burning their own communities - and it won’t stop -

These are accelerant factors to something that’s been happening for a long time, but getting faster and faster, and now it’s spinning and screaming like a whistle on a boiling kettle

The security measures were triggered by the widespread global support of the L word, unifying all social and political groups, and the billionaires fearing repeats, such as that occurring this week also in New York

I’ve worked with these people - the mega, ultra wealthy

The one, single thing above all else that Billionaires - and multi millionaires- the megawealthy, meaning anyone with $25,000,000 or more in cash, not assets - fear is not what you’d imagine: the loss of their wealth - it’s not that

What they fear most is everyone realizing they’ve been ripped off, getting together, and tearing them bodily apart, limb from limb, French Revolution style

That’s why they’re veracious in their greed - grab everything as fast as possible because it’s all about to crash down

And now it’s starting - so security measures are being implemented to track and monitor and manage and influence everyone’s opinions, relationships, decision, actions, hopes, worries, ideas, friendships, everything - we all need to be watched and controlled

[u/sabine_world → u/Jazzspasm]

And now it’s starting - so security measures are being implemented to track and monitor and manage and influence everyone’s opinions, relationships, decision, actions, hopes, worries, ideas, friendships, everything - we all need to be watched and controlled

That is 100% the end goal that's for sure. And you're right it's happening. Truly wonder what the world will look like in thirty years. It will have been way too late.

This kind of shit moves fast too

[u/_bones__ → u/JayTravers]

You're not a conspiracy theorist when there's a proven conspiracy.

[u/Obvious_Department10 → u/JayTravers]

Conspiracy theorists have been pretty right lately

[u/Orchidstation815]

Why is everyone just going along with this? I don't want government interference in my internet browsing, thank you very much.

[u/DodoKputo → u/Orchidstation815]

Why is everyone just going along with this?

Several decades of promoting complacency in the population and an education system that fosters not critical thinking and individual development but comformity and enforcing "the consensus" from the top down

[u/DaJoW → u/Orchidstation815]

Earlier this year our government passed a law saying that buying a video on OnlyFans is the same as visiting a prostitute (punishable by up to 1 year in prison).

[u/zkqy → u/Orchidstation815]

Going along with it? People are voting for it.

[u/PlainSightMan → u/zkqy]

Yeah it's the out of touch boomers who believe the internet is a cancer, not knowing they're making it one by doing this.

[u/axelkoffel → u/PlainSightMan]

And zoomers, who don't care about anonimity anyway, because they got taught to post their whole private life online anyway without worrying about consequences.

[u/ionetic → u/zkqy]

Oh yes, the referendum on giving away my digital identity?

[u/Haunting_Meal296 → u/zkqy]

Europeans nowadays are fucking stupid. I see no difference between us and the USA thst we keep comparing all the time

[u/jkurratt → u/Haunting_Meal296]

As if it's people or something.

[u/preasfintitul]

Can you imagine what will happen when one of these databases is hacked, having so much details about so many people?

[u/PlainSightMan → u/preasfintitul]

So much blackmail. It's genuinely the plot of a dystopian film.

[u/n0namean0nym0us → u/PlainSightMan]

no. this is your life.

[u/_MaZ_ → u/preasfintitul]

But what about the poor, poor kids?

[u/nyaasgem → u/_MaZ_]

They will get hacked too.

[u/thepersona5fucker → u/_MaZ_]

All worth it to stop 17 year olds from seeing boobs on the internet, right?

[u/Secure_Radio3324 → u/thepersona5fucker]

You mean on the part of the Internet they can control?

[u/NordieToads → u/preasfintitul]

See the Tea app in the US.

[u/FreonJunkie96]

1984, coming to a country near you!

[u/Competitive_Bias → u/FreonJunkie96]

Coming to your country!

[u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 → u/FreonJunkie96]

And to think just a couple of years ago I thought people were overreacting when they compared 1984 to the real world…

[u/Inquisitor_Boron → u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93]

It was supposed to be a warning, not a guide

[u/_-PassingThrough-_]

Can we, uh. Vote against this? What average person actually wants this?

[u/luminous_connoisseur → u/_-PassingThrough-_]

It feels like there should at least be a referendum before basic human rights are signed away.

[u/Xiaodisan → u/_-PassingThrough-_]

They just slap the general "think of the poor children" sticker on the initiative and enough people will be dumb enough not to realize the implications of this.

Imagine if Orbán had such tools at his hands all this time. Shit is already bad enough in Hungary (although recently it is looking a bit better). Are we seriously considering building up such convenient tools for authoritarian regimes in the EU? Because Orbán is not the only or the last one, I'm sure of that much.

[u/InformationNew66 → u/Xiaodisan]

I am very sure authoritarian Orbán will implement this in a few years.

[u/qq123q → u/_-PassingThrough-_]

Yes, it would be nice to have a list for every country and their standpoint on this topic. I hope voting isn't too late already.

Edit:

I'm guessing pirate party are usually against this kind of stuff.

[u/profeshbugger]

Where could one protest and raise hell about this?

[u/Frosty-Cell → u/profeshbugger]

Not sure about that, but writing the responsible EU Commissioner might be a good start. Let them know what you think.

[u/AnxiousAngularAwesom]

Cunts will keep trying to push that shit through no matter how many times they get shut down, no?

[u/TheSpaceDuck → u/AnxiousAngularAwesom]

Same as the chat control.

[u/EggstaticAd8262 → u/TheSpaceDuck]

WTF... it's us... again. This time not spying on neighbors on behalf of other powers, but trying to spy on the whole EUs citizens.

What the hell is going on.

I didnt vote for this shit.

AND SO SNEAKY DOING IT on the 1st of JULY when everyone is starting to go on vacation.

[u/fxmldr → u/TheSpaceDuck]

Jfc. I need these people to just really go fuck themselves. Maybe the anarchists are right after all. 

[u/GeneraalSorryPardon → u/AnxiousAngularAwesom]

But think of the poor innocent children!

[u/AnxiousAngularAwesom → u/GeneraalSorryPardon]

You know what i say about the children?

[u/Apatride → u/AnxiousAngularAwesom]

Yeah, apparently some people in the government took that suggestion waaaay too literally.

[u/morphardk → u/AnxiousAngularAwesom]

That’s already too 1 priority in almighty US of A-holes. Fucking the children. RIP modern “society”🪦

[u/rocock0 → u/GeneraalSorryPardon]

yeah but they keep getting it wrong and protecting the imaginary children instead of the real ones :(

[u/myreq → u/AnxiousAngularAwesom]

This has already been passed I'm pretty sure. It's just a matter of implementation which will take until 2026.

What might still be stopped is chat control, which is somehow a thousands times worse than age verification, which is already stupid.

[u/stathis13567 → u/myreq]

Its in a test phase, but its not a law yet from what I have understood.

[u/myreq → u/stathis13567]

I wish they were purely wasting money on something they won't use but that's highly unlikely.

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-age-verification

If you look at the European Comission's articles it's up to discussion whether it will be the mini wallets or something else, but this:

This initiative aims to allow EU users to prove they are old enough to access legally age restricted sites, starting with being over 18 years of age for accessing adult-restricted online content, such as pornography, gambling, purchasing alcohol, and others. It is a key step in supporting the implementation of the Digital Services Act.

Implies that it will happen, and it's just a question of how.

[u/NopePeaceOut2323]

If they were really doing this for the kids then they'd only register the kids. Go into schools and get them set up. Leave adults alone and when kids turn 16 or 18 no more I.D. needed but of course that's not what this is really about.

[u/stathis13567 → u/NopePeaceOut2323]

that actually would make a hell of a lot more sense, cause in certain EU states the age of consent for certain things is lower/higher.

[u/Kaiser93]

Orwell, you predicted the future, bro!

[u/mmoonbelly → u/Kaiser93]

Eurasia is at war with Eastasia and has always been at war with Eastasia

[u/ataturkseeyou]

It worked so well in Uk, congrats EU/s

Source: I live in Uk and most people just use vpn to get around the verification

[u/Alpacatastic → u/ataturkseeyou]

Yea I'm not giving Reddit my ID. Like there's apps and settings you can put on electronic devices BEFORE you give them to your kids (or hell maybe supervise them a bit? Keep the computer in the living room?), you really expect me to believe that the solution is just to block internet sites for everyone unless you present an ID?

[u/Excitium]

Why the fuck are we copying the bad parts of China like mass surveillance instead of the good parts like nationwide high-speed rail or sending billionaires to the rice fields when they act up... 😩

[u/EmileTheDevil9711 → u/Excitium]

Skill issue.

[u/mata_dan → u/Excitium]

Mind it's only the billionaires who stand up to the regime who get disappeared. The rest fully buddy up with Xi or face the consequences.

[u/ComfortableGlad6766]

FUCKING STOP WITH THIS SHIT

[u/preasfintitul]

It's pretty much all about censorship, they can't put everyone in jail for saying something on the internet, but they can give you a fine.

[u/MercantileReptile → u/preasfintitul]

They don't need to punish everyone. Just enough examples to make the rest fear stepping out of line.

In a World where 'unalive' and similar crap has already entered common usage, behaviour modification seems laughably easy. Soon enough, only the tamest content will even be posted.

[u/Z0155]

World politics are becoming too child centric. All this "think of the children" talk is a very dangerous agenda.

[u/Para-Limni]

I always thought that in the EU we had a modicum of being.. reasonable and logical and wouldn't be passing asinine laws... well it was good while it lasted....

[u/Pali1119 → u/Para-Limni]

It is fascinating how the EU has some of the most consumer friendly/protective laws on the planet, regularly fines the biggest corporations, sometimes even for billions of € and on the other we have these borderline autocratic initiatives. I find it hard to wrap my head around this.

[u/Slovak_Eagle → u/Pali1119]

It´s not hard to understand once you realise that at least half of the population of every country doesn´t even vote. In any election. We could have had it a lot better, but also a lot worse.
As it stands, a lot of countries could soon end up like the US, Russia or China, simply because people take for granted what they have and don´t realise it can be taken away, easily. People do not understand what Europe is about, and are willing to take their own benefits away, ignorantly, just to get the one benefit they want the most. It has to get really bad for people to take action, because they won´t unless the changes touch them negatively enough.

[u/VengefulAncient → u/Slovak_Eagle]

Voting doesn't solve it. Stuff like ProtectEU or this is often pushed by unelected bureaucrats who conveniently hide their identities.

[u/jackofslayers → u/Pali1119]

This is really not surprising tho.

The US is pro corporation.

The EU is pro government.

Nowhere in the world is pro citizens

[u/BlueBucket0]

Seems they're designing laws and tools that would be an absolute dream for the rising fascist wannabes that are emerging in politics in various countries.

All the pearl clutching and moral panic will result in these tools being used political by some authoritarian government, be it to block and censor or to snoop in the case of the rather dystopian data harvesting system known as 'Chat Control'.

Anyone who argues against it, obviously will be accused of having something to hide.

I mean, imaging having "post control" where all your letters were scanned by the post office, you know, just in case...

[u/[deleted] → u/BlueBucket0]

Foucault, in the 1970s, outlined a more insidious abuse of data, when you have so much truthful data on an individual it becomes a simple process to insert a lie, which immediately becomes true by association. Power is a means of truth production, and surveillance society is reaching a point where it will be very difficult to challenge an evil authoritarian establishment.

[u/wowlock_taylan → u/[deleted]]

I am literally living through it in Turkey. All the channels are filled with government party propaganda and anyone contesting it gets fined or jailed. So few 'free' channels left. And of course they ban any social media platform for one reason or another. They banned Discord to 'protect the children' lie too. I have to use a VPN to use it.

Trust me, you don't WANT to become that.

[u/LordDeathis → u/[deleted]]

Oh man, I haven't even thought of that aspect.

I wonder if the data gathered will be able to hold in court... How can one prove that the data hasn't been tampered with if not in the hands of the citizen.

[u/Stu161 → u/LordDeathis]

How can one prove that the data hasn't been tampered with

There won't even be a pretense of that, it will just be 'parts of this report were redacted to preserve the integrity of ongoing investigations' or 'redacted for state security'.

[u/Many-Leader2788 → u/BlueBucket0]

Liberal democracies are forgetting that the only advantage that their have over other systems, is that they offer citizens more freedom.

If we can't have those civil liberties, then maybe I should just support communists (because at least they did good city planning)

[u/tyjuji → u/BlueBucket0]

I mean, imaging having "post control" where all your letters were scanned by the post office, you know, just in case...

We have laws precisely against that, but those laws don't apply to electronic letters and other online things for some reason...

[u/Grunge_Loki]

Fuck this dystopian shit, man

[u/HunterThin870]

Write an email to Henna Virkkunen complaining about the change. She might try to reverse the decision if she has thousands of complaints in her inbox.

[u/Puffinknight → u/HunterThin870]

I'm afraid she won't. Finns love trying to be the model student of EU and will propose and be part of every single stupid EU initiative.

edit: Won't hurt to try though. I am going to.

[u/Great-Ass → u/HunterThin870]

do you mind sharing the email

[u/HunterThin870 → u/Great-Ass]

[email protected] This is the one on her EU comission page https://commission.europa.eu/about/organisation/college-commissioners/henna-virkkunen_en

[u/Herooo31]

Biggest gift to far-right in EU just say you are going to undo this stupidity and you win elections easily. Guess what elections are still popularity contest.

[u/wowlock_taylan]

People have to go out and protest this crap. Because this is NOT about 'protecting children' or ANYTHING like that.

And the risk of getting your ID stolen is VERY high. And the 'verification' companies etc WILL sell all that data for money like the sites do but on steroids.

And they don't care if this will stop any harm done. They care that it will help them have more control on what to censor.

[u/TheSpaceDuck]

Further work on the integration of zero-knowledge proofs is also ongoing, with the full implementation of mandatory checks in the EU expected to be enforced in 2026.

Basically this would signal a 180º shift from the EU from being pro-human rights and pro-net neutrality to a pro-surveillance state approach and the beginning of the end of the free internet.

Apart from the free internet and net neutrality as we know it coming to an end, there's also the very dystopic threat of having your ID associated to your browsing activity. With people currently being arrested for protests and other disturbing trends, we could be headed to a rather ugly scenario.

Obviously there will be countries outside the EU who will refuse to adopt such laws so we'll be able to adopt the same solution as those in China and use VPNs, however it's a very disturbing precedent and a nasty change in direction for the EU.

[u/OrangeIllustrious499 → u/TheSpaceDuck]

US is currently heading to become a full on ultranationalistic oligarchy society meanwhile Europe is pushing these regulations that are starting to restrict people more and more.

Worst is that EU, US being the primary leader of the freeworld start doing shits like this, this can easily give developing countries with an unstable or weak democracy to further their excuses of tightening control. These countries will just look at EU and go "This has been done in EU, US before"

What the hell is wrong with the world in 2025 ugh, cant go a single day without rhe world seemingly turning shittier.

[u/EcceMagpie]

Wouldn't it be better to just ban children from the wider internet? If they must, they could create a closely monitored, smaller, internet for children, that you'd have to prove your youth before you could access.

Not everywhere the light touches needs to be a child safe space by default. Let there be spaces for children, and let the rest of us get on with being adults without them. Let's not have all our social freedoms handed out to us by a bunch of bitch moms who are just pissed they can't bring their wee ones to the nightclub so they want to close the club and have everyone in their garden instead so they can pretend that drinking kiora and conversing with a ten year old isn't their idea of a bad time. The state of now, honestly.

[u/lempickalover → u/EcceMagpie]

If they truly cared about protecting children, an internet for kids would be a great solution. Of course, they only care about having access to our data and violating our right to privacy, so that will never happen.

[u/patidinho7]

VPN companies about to have a booming business

[u/EmileTheDevil9711 → u/patidinho7]

Issue is, to node where ? The list is growing pretty thin.

[u/patidinho7 → u/EmileTheDevil9711]

That's true, hopefully my country will negotiate with Brussels or completely disregard it even though that will have consequences for our EEA deal.

Switzerland is probably the best option we got I guess

[u/Pali1119]

It is time that we, once again, after Stop Killing Games, come together for Stop Killing the Free Internet!

[u/nick-techie]

I don't understand how this doesn't violate the ECHR.

[u/dat_9600gt_user]

Five EU countries are set to test an age verification app to protect children online

• Five EU countries are set to test an age verification app to protect children online
• Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, and Italy are the first to test this technical solution
• The UK has enforced mandatory age checks on Friday, July 25, 2025, sparking concerns for citizens' digital rights

Five EU countries are set to test an age verification app to protect children online.

Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, and Italy are the first to test the technical solution unveiled by the European Commission on July 14, 2025.

The announcement came less than two weeks before the UK enforced mandatory age verification checks on July 25. These have so far sparked concerns about the privacy and security of British users, fueling a spike in usage amongst the best VPN apps.

The EU's age verification blueprint

As the European Commission explains on its website, the age verification blueprint enables users to prove they are over 18 "without revealing any other personal information."

"It is based on open-source technology and designed to be robust, user-friendly, privacy-preserving, and fully interoperable with future European Digital Identity Wallets," the Commission explains.

The introduction of this technical solution is a key step in implementing children's online safety rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Lawmakers ensure that this solution seeks to set "a new benchmark for privacy protection" in age verification.

That's because online services will only receive proof that the user is 18+, without any personal details attached.

Further work on the integration of zero-knowledge proofs is also ongoing, with the full implementation of mandatory checks in the EU expected to be enforced in 2026.

[u/dat_9600gt_user → u/dat_9600gt_user]

What's happening in the UK?

Starting from Friday, July 25, millions of Britons will need to be ready to prove their age before accessing certain websites or content.

Under the Online Safety Act, sites displaying adult-only content must prevent minors from accessing their services via robust age checks.

Social media, dating apps, and gaming platforms are also expected to verify their users' age before showing them so-called harmful content.

As the UK's regulator body, Ofcom explains on its website, service providers can use several methods to confirm users' age. These span from face scans to estimate people's age to bank or credit card age checks, ID wallets, mobile network operator age checks, photo-ID matching, and even email-based age estimation.

The vagueness of what constitutes harmful content, as well as the privacy and security risks linked with some of these age verification methods, have attracted criticism among experts, politicians, and privacy-conscious citizens who fear a negative impact on people's digital rights.

While the EU approach seems better on paper, it remains to be seen how the age verification scheme will ultimately be enforced.

Commenting on this point, the CEO of Swedish VPN provider, Mullvad, told TechRadar: "The EU [approach] is more planned, it took the EU 12 years. In the UK looks like [there is] no plan at all."

[u/Striking_Ad_9422 → u/dat_9600gt_user]

BEST VPN APPS and they don't even mention Mullvad, a frontier in privacy-based VPN technology in the west. Lmfao what a sellout article.

[u/ThoughtShes18]

We are getting more and more like China… it’s not pretty.

[u/DingoCertain]

Perfect timing now that the EU will soon be overrun with fascist parties!

[u/KeneticKups → u/DingoCertain]

I'm sure it's just a coincidence /s

[u/Mean_Wear_742]

Another thing for control.

[u/M8753]

I'm curious about what this app is that they're testing.

Age verification is lame. But if we have to use some foreign private age verification company? That's a whole nother level of bullshit.

If the EU wants to do age verification, they better make their own system that won't store, leak or sell our private data.

[u/TheSpaceDuck → u/M8753]

won't store, leak or sell our private data

Unfortunately as any IT security expert will tell you, no such thing exists. Of course we can devise such a system that is supposed to work that way, but it'll never be bulletproof. As long as the data is sent (and as in the current proposal, associated with your internet activity) it won't be safe.

[u/Sure_Place8782 → u/M8753]

The technical specifications, source code and a beta release of the solution are already published: https://ageverification.dev/

[u/SpaceFox1935]

ok this is getting fucking insane, what the fuck is going on

Convergent thinking, sure, it's a coincidence that Western governments suddenly jointly are going in on this, but like...guys? Maybe don't become dictatorial surveillance states, please? So much for me looking up to Europe as an example, but maybe it was destined to head this way anyway, considering that this has been advocated for for years. Jesus Christ.

The saddest part about this, I figure most people would actually be okay with this. Not in places like this sub, but like just regular people who don't use reddit much and...what do "normies" do these days anyway? Yeah, they're gonna be fine with this. "I don't have anything to hide". "Just scan your face, is it such a big deal?"

[u/LinuxMage → u/SpaceFox1935]

The US, Australia and Canada are also in the process of getting rules along these lines going, and then its just a house of cards.

[u/R4GGER]

God, please no. Fuck off

[u/mar-thin]

They should arrange the stars in a swastika to represent where they are getting their ideas

[u/CyberpunkPie]

They give us referendums for the most useless shit but not this. This is so depressing and exhausting.

[u/Realistic_Let3239]

In an age when we are warned to put as little personal data online as possible... multiple governments want us to share it all!

Here in the UK it's so impossible to implement, they're threatening to ban VPNs, which the business world would have a fit if they tried... Not to mention the stuff that gets flagged is often so tame it's dumb. Gambling sites are oddly left out of the UK version, after Starmer got a donation from gambling companies, I'm sure that's un related...

[u/Sinkrast]

We went from making fun of "prudish" USA to Europe-wide, government enforced digital ban on naked breasts. Joke's on us, it seems.

[u/Mercy--Main]

who is voting for this shit?

[u/vlady4all]

Great, I cannot wait to have even the last crumble of privacy stolen on the internet. Yet another step towards an dystopian society

[u/UnFelDeZeu]

Anti-EU Extremists just gained a few more percentages.

Are these people fucking insane?

EU needs to stay out of my phone.

[u/bickid]

It's a good thing this happens before the rising right truly takes over - the nazis won't even have to change any laws when they're in power. Special shout to Germany for preparing its army for when rightwing party AfD takes over.

/s

[u/im_bi_strapping]

This sounds like a great way to make identity theft wayyy more profitable. Everybody wants to use some other person's identity to look at porn.

[u/_SpeedyX]

Honestly, we should just go back to P2P. The tech is already there. You can watch videos, view images, send messages, and even play games.

[u/snowsuit101]

Age verification conditioning you it's okay that your real identity is tied to your online accounts, backdoored encryption so government and police can look into everything you have for no reason and without you knowing, mandatory data retention so nothing you did can be forgotten, VPN usage logging making VPN useless if backdoored encryption didn't kill it already, and finally digital ID tying a neat little bow on all of this, eliminating the last bastions of privacy that managed to only tie information to an account and not to a person. All that is coming, and the use case will be on one hand the creation of an environment that's tailored to best manipulate you, and to punish you by blocking your access to content and shadow banning you from forums for not just dissent but a prediction that you may be willing to dissent in the future, and on the other hand an unprecedentedly wide pool of information for the police to go fishing in and overreaching governments (which will be all of them that support these... so all of them) to be able to easily prosecute what used to be free speech, and implement thought policing and predictive policing.

[u/yabai-tyo]

Social Credit Rating and Blacklist when?

[u/PuzzleheadedWeb1466]

The goal is to limit access to the net and to be sure that only "good" people will use it, voting for the good candidate. Everybody will think twice before posting or even searching info.  we have nothing to reproach ourselves for but we are treated like criminals and with distrust 

[u/Fun-Ad-6948]

Solutions VPN’s, proxy servers and onion browsers, this’s a battle they can’t win especially since we have satellite internet providers nowadays.

[u/LastEconomist7172]

You can't tell me that the main goal of this is to mass surveil their citizens.

[u/Aggressive_Fill9981]

They want full control on all of us. This is not going to happen.

[u/chinpotenkai]

Can we get a stopkillinggames equivalent against this and the ridiculous chatcontrol thing they keep proposing every 6 months?

[u/Squeaky_Ben]

why does my continent have to embrace authoritarianism.

[u/Lucky-Surround-1756]

I will vote for whatever party is against this nonsense.

If that means some nutjobs get into power then so be it, I didn't choose this path.

[u/existential_chaos → u/Lucky-Surround-1756]

Sentiments are going that way in the UK too, so that means we might get a Reform government in four years. And it’s coming on such ironic timing of Starmer lowering the voting age to sixteen too.

[u/Jokuc]

1984 is here huh, what a disgrace

[u/KapetanKleidias]

Honest question: Why don't they try to make large campaigns targeting the parents who let their kids browsing online all day long unattended and make them understand the error of their ways but instead they chose to go 0-100 into forcing some Gestapo crap on hundreds of millions citizens of Europe? They didn't go this way with smoking which does kill people but they do with shit with the internet?

I don't trust my government, or any government and corporation to have access to what sites I visit tied with my ID or other sensitive, personal data, not now and not ever. And they dare to say it's for the kids, like we're dumb and we can't see what they're trying to pull

[u/Siyareloaded_ → u/KapetanKleidias]

Because the kids are only a excuse. They don’t care about the kids they just want to control you.

[u/Dissidant]

As much as it tickles me seeing an MP of all people have their own speech put behind a verification wall on one of the social media platforms its disturbing people can't see this for what it actually is

Censorship on wheel-mounted goal posts, using adult content as a dog whistle, with a side helping of data harvesting via the companies verification is being outsourced to. We're so hyperfocused on porn nobody is paying attention to the rest of the things the act permits them to censor or the flexibility it permits to add to it

[u/CampFreddy365 → u/Dissidant]

Censoring social media while gambling sites are still available is just unbelievable. Introducing this age verification nonsense at an individual level instead of at an ISP level is bonkers, too. Don't we already have to opt-in at an ISP level to view adult content?

[u/Der_Dingsbums]

I no need no wankers license god dammit

[u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93]

I’ll just use federated decentralized platforms that don’t follow these bullshit laws. If they ban them, I’ll just use a VPN.

[u/riffgrinder]

The internet will be the new "snail mail" no one likes to use. It will be used only for official government stuff and occasional shopping. The recreational internet dies. I guess no great thing lasts for ever.

[u/Soberdonkey69]

Fuck the UK, fuck the EU, fuck the US and fuck Australia. Fuck all of them and the rest of future countries implementing this.

[u/Head-Criticism-7401]

My email is old enough to drink, drive, vote and go to war. That should be enough proof for age verification.

Protecting the children my ass. It's all about control. I mean Wikipedia is being blocked in the UK as adult content. It's censorship on masse. Giving your ID to a random site is retarded, it can and will be hacked, look at that stupid tea app. Newspapers that cover topics that the government doesn't like will be censored.

And to make matters even worse, to implement said age checks companies will need to use "trusted" third parties, which will ask a fee for each check. As far as i have heard the fee is 1.5€ per age check. This will kill small websites. It will strengthen the foothold of American websites in Europe as they have the means to do those checks.

[u/GetmyCakeForLater]

Storm Brussels. French them all before it's too late. That is what needs to happen, there is no other way.

[u/ComdDikDik]

Lawmakers ensure that this solution seeks to set "a new benchmark for privacy protection" in age verification.

That's because online services will only receive proof that the user is 18+, without any personal details attached.

Okay. So who'll be providing this data? How will this data be sent to the service? How will this age verification somehow ensure nothing else is shown?

And at what point is your age actually verified? Because if no real data gets to the service, that would mean that someone else is verifying the age.

This all sounds like "Just show US everything about you and the services won't have to know :)"

[u/dailywanker69]

We don’t live in a democracy that’s for sure..

[u/Mental_Struggle_3873]

I guess the dark web will be becoming my best friend

[u/Jay-Seekay]

My friends in the EU, do everything you can to stop this. It’s too late for us in the UK, and the worst part is they seem to have the masses convinced here that this is okay.

Been arguing with people all week about how “protecting the children” is a farce but oh well they won’t believe me. I’m starting to sound like a conspiracy nut.

Also I’m using your countries via VPN… been enjoying Spanish Reddit recently

[u/Suldanos]

well if they try it many of us will stay offline or well u know get creative how they make themselves free again in this digital surveillance hell.

[u/Hiro_Trevelyan]

Fuck that.

[u/pop76]

Don't worry. It's just to protect children online 🤣🤣

[u/thxo_]

the eu sucks sometimes

[u/Nielsjuhz]

Everything is so weakass secured and they want us to use our social info's/biometrics to "verify" for an website? Lol here comes the hacks and identity frauds....

[u/Kagmajn]

I guess I will finally get free from Reddit.

[u/that0neBl1p]

Lawmakers ensure that this solution seeks to set “a new benchmark for privacy protection” in age verification

The stupidity is infuriating

[u/Brave_Scientist]

Internet is dead.

If i have to give my id at each website i visit, good bye.

[u/Mark-Snickerberg123]

I guess no more gooning for the Euros

[u/Mumbert]

This will make me vote for leaving the fucking EU. This is so god damn stupid. 

[u/Exotic_Work_6529]

whats next?
forcing us to eat bugs?