2 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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More from Let me see some ID: age verification is spreading across the internet

Will you have to show your ID at the app store?

App stores are gateways. Lawmakers want them to have checkpoints.

Lauren Feiner
Meet the new tech laws of 2026

Coming into force this year: AI regulations galore, a teen social media lockdown, and “Taylor Swift” laws.

Adi Robertson
Welcome to the ‘papers, please’ internet

Porn is increasingly age-gated. Social media is next.

Adi Robertson
Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Mastodon can’t comply with Mississippi’s age verification laws.

Bluesky already blocked users in Mississippi over the state’s age verification law. Now Mastodon has told TechCrunch it doesn’t “have the means” to comply with the law, leaving its future in the state, and others considering similarly restrictive age verification laws, in doubt.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Google has open sourced its privacy-focused age verification technology.

The company built Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) into Google Wallet earlier this year, a technology that allows users to verify their age across different apps and platforms without linking it to their identity.

Google has now put the ZKP codebase on GitHub so developers can use it to build more private apps and tools. Countries in the EU can also use it to build digital wallets, which are set to launch next year.

The Supreme Court just upended internet law, and I have questions

Last week, online age verification violated the First Amendment. This week, it doesn’t.

Adi Robertson
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
The EU age verification app will launch in July.

The app is described as a temporary solution until the EU rolls out a Digital Identity Wallet with age-checking features next year, aiming to support the enforcement of rules that require online platforms to protect minors. The app will allow users to verify their age without giving personal information to platforms, and was briefly mentioned on Tuesday when the EU Commission announced its probe into major porn sites.