More from Let me see some ID: age verification is spreading across the internet



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

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



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





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.

Last week, online age verification violated the First Amendment. This week, it doesn’t.
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.
Most Popular
- Apple’s weird anti-nausea dots cured my car sickness
- Tim Cook says RAM expenses are ‘unsustainable’ and Apple is going to raise prices
- Midjourney goes from generating cat images to full-body ultrasound scans
- Apple’s smart home camera service is starting to impress me
- Can anyone look cool wearing Snap’s $2,000 glasses?



















