Age Verification
Nothing to do with protecting children
We are increasingly seeing governments around the world take part in a concerted effort to remove anonymity so that they can track us more easily. Whether it is ID cards or age verification, the reasons given by the proponents are never the true ones,
“It’s about protecting children,” they lie.
Well, if politicians really cared about that then they wouldn’t suck up to Trump, technocrats, Epstein’s ultra-rich customers and other paedophiles. They wouldn’t cover for them, honour them, protect them. That’s the sure sign that this is about protecting the billionaire abusers, not children.
It is really about getting everyone used to more surveillance, more checks, more tracking. It is about governments and corporations being able to control what we see and use, what we communicate, and to block us from accessing technology. To create a world where you have to give your papers and prove your identity in order to use your PC, to use social media. Where results for topics they don’t want you to know about become hidden, and instead you are indoctrinated with state propaganda.
Under ridiculous UK laws I can no longer access chat in Bluesky or Substack because I am an “assumed child” unless I agree to invasive procedures (I won’t share documents and don’t want to be face scanned by flawed AI).
The whole AI-based “age verification” system is utterly broken anyway. It has no way of knowing if the person in front of the camera is the user, or just a friend/parent who sits there for a few seconds. Unless, of course, it is always monitoring, recording, and tracking you.
The Labour and Conservative politicians who put this crapshow in place are a disgrace.
Here are some readings. It soon becomes clear that these aren’t all separate cases; they are tied to increasing authoritarian fascism; clampdowns on anyone who opposes war and genocide; gathering more data for billionaires; and attempts to force-feed US techbro AI down our throats.
Operating System Age Verification
Think you can use your computer without proving your age? Not if politicians get their way and implement operating-system-level age verification (which has already become mandatory in some places):
Age Verification: Protection Tool or Surveillance in Disguise? (Itsfoss, 2026-03-02)
Age Verification Laws Are Multiplying Like a Virus (Itsfoss, 2026-03-06)
Laws We Are Violating (Ageless Linux – useful summary of all the authoritarian verification laws being forced through)
And in case you thought a VPN could bypass some of this:
“The EU is looking to ban VPNs, arguing that the ban is necessary to police recent online age verification laws. Critics have been warning for years that these age restriction laws are being rolled out around the world to erase online anonymity and enable greater surveillance of the entire population, and they are looking more vindicated than ever today. This isn’t about protecting children from social media addiction and porn, it’s about expanding the western empire’s surveillance network.”
[Source: They’re Attacking Online Anonymity, And Other Notes (Caitlin Johnstone 2026-05-09)]
Digital ID: It’s Not About Protecting Children
Children and Young People Are Being Harmed. Politicians Choose to Look Elsewhere. (Avigail Abarbanel 2026-04-23)
The UK Has It Wrong on Digital ID. Here’s Why. (Electronic Frontier Foundation / EFF 2025-11-28
Systems Linked To Palantir/Big Tech Surveillance, Plus Data Leaks
Good news, UK Discord users, we’re part of a Peter Thiel-linked data collection “experiment” (Rock, Paper, Shotgun 2026-02-16)
Proof-of-age ID leaked in Discord data breach (Guardian 2025-10-07)
Attempts To Prevent Teenagers From Using Social Media
This is pertinent because they then see the horrors perpetuated by the West and its cronies like Israel, such as their genocide in Palestine, and endless attacks on Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan etc.
When teenagers stopped buying into US and Zionist propaganda the US pretty much banned TikTok; the Republican who introduced the bill to ban TikTok (H.R. 7521) was Mike Gallagher. In 2022, AIPAC (pro-Israel political bribing organisation) was the top contributor to Gallagher’s campaign.
Social media bans and digital curfews to be trialled on UK teenagers (BBC 2026-03-24)
Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda with 1.4m followers reports TikTok ban (Al Jazeera 2026-01-29)
How Israel Captured TikTok (2025-09-24)
TikTok to Ban Criticisms of Zionism Following Pressure from NGO with Former Israeli Intelligence Ties (Techstory 2024-07-29)
It was about propaganda. About stopping people from knowing the truth about what was being done to civilians in places like Palestine. According to the criminals in power, propaganda (even foreign propaganda) is fine as long as it is in theirs or Israel’s interests. And so we can now expect to see more of this:
Netanyahu Stresses The Need For More Propaganda As Israel’s Hasbara Budget Soars (Caitlin Johnstone 2026-05-11)]
Just as it is illegal to take bribes from a foreign government if it is Russia, but it is all right if the foreign government is Israel:
Political Bribery Hypocrisy (me! 2025-11-24)
So, What Should You Do?
Never vote for politicians or parties that support increased invasion of privacy, age verification etc. (That rules out pretty much all the establishment parties which are in the pockets of the billionaires.)
Support organisations such as Electronic Frontier Foundation / EFF - you can join them.
Call out the politicians who are forcing through these ridiculous laws (while you still can).
Also note what these corrupt politicians support (generally war, AI, billionaires, privatisation, Israel and so on): that tells you what to boycott and oppose.
Boycott US Big Tech. See here and here.
PS If you want to buy me a coffee, that’s an option, and gratefully received! It helps fund all these posts. I’m also an author, in case you want to treat yourself to my lovingly created books, and I help writers improve their craft.
It's a very worrying and annoying dystopian future happening now.