The Public Interest Privacy Center (PIPC) equips stakeholders with the insights, training, and tools needed to cultivate effective, ethical, and equitable privacy safeguards for all children and students.
Age verification: Child protection or privacy risk?
With more platforms and governments asking for age verification, we look at the options and the implications.
The "Segregate-and-Suppress" Approach to Regulating Child Safety Online
<div> In an effort to protect children online, regulators around the country and the world are enacting laws that compel Internet publishers to age-authenticat
Online age-verification tools spread across U.S. for child safety, but adults are being surveilled
New age-verification laws and tools are designed for child safety on social media and the internet, but adults are in the crosshairs, say privacy experts.
What Would Online Age Verification Mean for Speech, Privacy, and Youth Online Safety?
Online age verification systems fail to protect children | Proton
Do online age verification systems improve child safety? See how age restrictions and age checks fall short, and what that means for privacy and protection.
IACIS 2026 - OpenConf Abstract Submission, Peer Review, and Event Management System
As lawmakers across the United States move to require age verification for access to adult content online, new questions are emerging about the unintended risks these laws create. While intended to protect minors, many of these policies rely on systems that collect and store overly sensitive personal information such as government-issued IDs or biometric data without adequate safeguards. This introduces serious cybersecurity vulnerabilities, privacy concerns, and potential legal liability for platforms and users alike. Some major platforms have already withdrawn from certain states rather than comply, raising questions about the real-world feasibility of these laws. This study examines the intersection of digital privacy, cybersecurity, and legal compliance in the context of mandatory age verification. It analyzes the risks posed by identity-based and biometric systems, the role of third-party vendors, and the inconsistencies in how states define and enforce these requirements. The paper evaluates several age verification models and concludes that attribute-based verification systems that confirm age eligibility without revealing full identities offers the most secure and privacy-conscious path forward. The findings underscore a critical need for better-designed legislation that balances child protection with digital rights and security. This research provides targeted recommendations for policymakers, platform operators, and cybersecurity professionals, urging a shift toward transparent, accountable, and technically sound solutions before flawed systems become entrenched.
Online Age Verification: Government Legislation, Supplier Responsibilization, and Public Perceptions
There are widespread concerns about the online harms to children operating online. As such, governments have enacted laws to require online service providers to deploy age verification to prevent such harms. We investigate the following three research questions regarding this topic: (1) To what extent have different governments legislated age verification controls? (2) Do governments embrace a responsibilization strategy when it comes to online age verification? and (3) How does the UK public feel about online age verification legislation? We find that governments are applying a responsibilization strategy, which has led to widespread deployment of privacy-invasive or ineffective age verification. The former violates the privacy of underage users, with the latter undermining the overarching aims of the legislation. We have also found general disengagement and a lack of trust in the government amongst the public with regards to new online age verification laws within the UK. To conclude, despite governments globally looking to put more robust online age verification mechanisms in place, there remains a general lack of privacy preservation and affordable technological solutions. Moreover, the overarching aims of the online safety and age verification legislative changes may not be satisfied due to the general public stakeholder group's disengagement and lack of trust in their government.
U.S. Social Media Regulations for Minors
The digital lives of American children and teenagers have become a focal point of intense national debate and legislative action. ContentsThe Federal Foundation: The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)The State-Level Surge: A Patchwork of New RulesThe Next Generation of Federal Law: Congress Weighs InThe Constitutional Crossroads: Free Speech vs. State RegulationThe Great Debate: Voices […]
Home | Protecting Kids Online
Our mission is to protect children and defend parental rights by equipping families and citizens with the tools to keep kids safe online. We oppose government surveillance disguised as child safety legislation and seek to build an informed, independent parent-led coalition to #ProtectKidsOnline.
Children’s Rights and Online Age Assurance Systems
Abstract Age assurance is a way to prevent children accessing content, products or services that are potentially harmful to them, ranging from gambling services or alcohol or tobacco or, increasingly, certain products and services online. Now that children’s lives are mediated by digital technologies, policymakers are deliberating over the legal, technical and practical challenges. These have been little examined from the perspective of children’s rights. By combining legal and social research methods, this article examines the legal requirements for age assurance in Europe, assesses compliance by companies and reveals the consequences for family life. In law and practice, we show that age assurance is often ineffective in protecting children from online risk of harm. Further, as currently implemented it risks children’s other rights – to non-discrimination, privacy, to be heard, and their civil rights and freedoms, and remedy. We identify promising directions for the use of age assurance in child online protection, focusing on European policy, regulators and civil society actors.
The KIDS Act Would Require Age Checks To Get Online
Buried inside the KIDS Act are provisions that will push online services to verify all users’ ages, require government-directed moderation policies for online speech, and even create new rules about
Ineffective, Unconstitutional, and Dangerous: The Problem with Age Verification Mandates – Action Center
In the wake of Louisiana’s new law mandating the use of age verification (AV) on adult content websites, a flurry of copycat legislation has been introduced by well-meaning but poorly-informed politicians who don’t understand the real-world impacts of the laws they are proposing.
Age verification is coming for the internet — and it’s already raising red flags
Legislative efforts to age-gate parts of the internet are gaining traction. Some experts warn of compliance complications and data security breaches.
Age assurance across Europe: how countries are safeguarding minors online
In 2024, regulators and online service providers fully aligned around the Digital Services Act (DSA), a groundbreaking piece of legislation that regulates the provision of online services within the EU, regardless of whether the provider is based in Europe or not. This year, the focus has shifted to implementing these legislative principles in practice. In particular, measures aimed at safeguarding minors have gained significant momentum, with age verification being a key example.
Texas Age Verification Law Upheld: U.S. Supreme Court Balances Free Speech and Child Protection in the Digital Age | Data Matters Privacy Blog
On June 27, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, a groundbreaking decision with significant implications for online content regulation. The Court upheld […]
Age-Verification Laws Seek to Erase LGBTQ+ Identity from the Internet
Age-verification laws are weaponized to censor LGBTQ+ and abortion-related content online under the guise of protecting children from porn.
