Not sure how many of you are tracking this, but the UK just quietly turned the knob on mandatory age verification for adult content.
No joke—starting this month, sites hosting any NSFW content have to verify users’ ages using a “digital proof-of-age” service.
Sounds clean until you realize:
– There’s no clear definition of what’s “harmful” content
– Sites don’t even have to host the content—just linking to it could be enough
– The law opens the door for browser-level filtering and forced ID-based login systems
The real kicker? If a site doesn’t comply, ISPs are authorized to block it entirely.
And it’s not staying in the UK.
Germany just published a draft bill about “age assurance tech” for digital media
Australia’s eSafety Commission is running trials with facial recognition as proof-of-age
Canada’s Heritage Minister said last week that they’re “watching the UK rollout closely”
Feels less like “protect the kids” and more like normalize ID’ing every user—before you even load a page.
Anyone keeping tabs on how they plan to enforce this technically? Or who’s building the infrastructure?
