Age-verification laws are rapidly expanding around the world as a means of protecting children from harmful content, harassment, and digital addiction. However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) warns that relying on passports, driver's licenses, or identity documents could turn access to broad areas of the internet into a privilege tied to the ability to prove one's identity.
The article, co-authored by Sheila B. Lalwani, draws on a question that goes beyond the usual privacy debate: What happens to people who cannot prove their age in the first place? Verification systems based on official documents may prevent people from accessing information, building communities, or participating in public debate, even when they are adults.
An Expanding Legislative Trend
The past year saw a rise in age-assurance requirements for accessing social networks and other digital services. In late 2025, Australia became the first country to implement a minimum-age requirement preventing people under 16 from creating or retaining accounts on social networks. In India, the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act includes verifiable parental consent, alongside ongoing discussions about restricting children's access to social networks.
The United Kingdom's Online Safety Act also requires age verification across a range of services that host content deemed harmful to people under 18. More than half of the U.S. states have enacted age-verification laws, while an expert report for the European Commission recommended barring people under 13 from using social networks and requiring platforms to verify age appropriateness.
An Access Problem, Not Just a Privacy Problem
The article estimates that approximately 15 million adult U.S. citizens do not have a driver's license, while another 2.6 million lack any government-issued photo ID. In the United Kingdom, age checks often rely on passports, driver's licenses, or recognized alternatives, creating obstacles for people who do not possess these documents.
Globally, approximately 850 million people lack identity documents. Most of them are concentrated in low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Citing the World Bank, the article states that women are 8% less likely than men to possess an identity document, while the poorest people, rural residents, and those with primary education or less are affected more severely.
Unequal Effects on Marginalized Groups
Stateless groups or those lacking stable documentation may face greater barriers. The article mentions the Rohingya, considered the world's largest concentration of stateless people, and the Bidoon in Kuwait. In Morocco, proposed restrictions on creating accounts for people under 13 on gaming platforms could create problems for people whose documents contain incomplete information about their year of birth, or for those attempting to leave the country.
In Nigeria, 64.4 million people were registered in a national identity-card program launched in 2007, but that represents just over 30% of the total population. Migrant workers subject to the kafala system may also face additional difficulties because residency and employment are tied to a specific employer.
What Changes in Practice?
According to the EFF's analysis, the potential outcome of these laws is not limited to the collection of more data or errors in age estimation; it also extends to an unequal distribution of the ability to enter the digital public sphere. A system that assumes possession of a current identity document may exclude people who are already marginalized offline and add this exclusion to their existing constraints.
The article does not deny the importance of protecting children, but it views identity-based verification as not a neutral solution: it may be inaccurate and intrusive to privacy, and may shift risks from surveillance and censorship to complete denial of access. The open questions remain tied to how to protect minors without imposing a blanket identity barrier on internet users.