February 23, 2026
Bouncers at every login
The Age Verification Trap, Verifying age undermines everyone's data protection
Selfie scans, credit cards, chaos—users call it surveillance while others beg for IDs to stop bots
TLDR: Age checks now mean IDs, face scans, and data kept long-term, which critics say undermines privacy. The community is split: some want IDs to fight bots and scams, others call it surveillance theater—while everyone agrees the checks are messy, error-prone, and hard to escape.
The internet just got a doorman, and the crowd is not happy. The article says age checks mean more IDs, face scans, and data storage forever—aka the age-verification trap—and the comments turned into a street fight. One user dropped a brutal example of face-scanning fail with a video, sparking memes about “your face says 15, but your taxes say 32.” Privacy hawks screamed surveillance, while frustrated users begged for IDs to stop bots and scammers. The hot take of the day: “I don’t want to talk to bots more than people,” echoing fears that AI armies are steering conversations. Meanwhile, someone tried the simple fix: if you’re paying for internet, you’re 18—cue the crowd dunking with “Tell that to family plans, dude.” Others pointed out youth IDs already exist in places like Germany, asking why we can’t just issue teen IDs and move on. But cynics fired back: kids will bypass it, predators will adapt, and platforms will keep your selfies forever. Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and Roblox all got name-checked—especially Roblox’s account black market—feeding the vibe that pass once, get checked forever. The internet’s bouncer isn’t just checking age—it’s collecting receipts.
Key Points
- •Age-restriction laws require platforms to verify user age, necessitating personal data collection and retention, which can conflict with privacy laws.
- •Platforms use two main approaches: identity-based verification (IDs/documents) with availability and storage risks, and inference (behavior/device/biometrics) with probabilistic errors.
- •In practice, platforms combine inference with ID checks, creating layered verification that follows users over time.
- •Major platforms employ these methods: Instagram uses facial age estimation via video selfies; TikTok scans videos; Google/YouTube rely on behavioral signals and may request ID or credit card; Roblox introduced an age-estimate system with reported exploitation.
- •Age verification systems produce false positives and negatives, enable evasion (IDs, account cycling, VPNs), and appeals increase privacy risks by requiring storage of biometric and ID data with verification logs.