Welcome to the Era of Online Age Verification. Are You Ready to Identify Yourself?

Welcome to the Era of Online Age Verification. Are You Ready to Identify Yourself?

The introduction of the UK's Online Safety Act marks a shift in internet culture, the ripples of which are already being felt around the world.

Why the UK’s age verification system (probably) won’t work

On Friday, the “Age Verification” clause of the UK’s Online Safety Act officially came into force. The result was a sudden surge in discussion, and a lot of people realising – finally – what the law really means. People have been googling “VPN” a lot. That’s a good thing; we’ll get to why later. Unfortunately, …

The Great British Firewall: Age Verification has Failed

From Friday 25 July 2025, UK Internet users have had to verify their age to use a range of apps and websites – from social media platforms such as X, Reddit and Bluesky to dating apps like Grindr to porn sites such as Pornhub. And it’s turning out to be as bad as we thought it would be. When it was being debated in parliament, ORG argued that proposals in the Online Safety Act (OSA) to prevent young people seeing adult content were unworkable a…

Tough new UK online safety laws now in force to shield children from harmful content

New laws in the UK require online platforms to implement robust age checks and reduce exposure to harmful content for under-18s. Platforms face fines of up to £18 million for non-compliance.

Ready or not, age verification is rolling out across the internet

Source: The Verge On July 25th, the UK became one of the first countries to widely implement age verification. Its Online Safety Act requires sites hosting porn and other content deemed “harmful” — including Reddit, Discord, Grindr, X, and Bluesky — to verify that users are over the age of 18. The early results have been chaotic. While many services have complied, some have pulled out of the country rather than face the risk and expense. Users …