The Age-Gated Internet Is Sweeping the US. Activists Are Fighting Back | WIREDSkip to main contentThe Big Interview - December 4Learn MoreMenuSECURITYPOLITICSTHE BIG STORYBUSINESSSCIENCECULTUREREVIEWSMenuAccountAccountNewslettersSecurityPoliticsThe Big StoryBusinessScienceCultureReviewsChevronMoreExpandThe Big InterviewMagazineEventsWIRED InsiderWIRED ConsultingNewslettersPodcastsVideoMerchSearchSearchSign InSign InJason ParhamCultureDec 3, 2025 4:54 PMThe Age-Gated Internet Is Sweeping the US. Activists Are Fighting BackHalf of the country now requires age verification to watch porn or access “harmful” content. Digital rights advocates are pushing back against legislation they say will make the internet less safe.To prove you're an adult, you may have to upload your ID or submit to an age-verifying face scan.Photo-Illustration: WIRED Staff; Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyMembers of Congress considered 19 online safety bills Tuesday that may soon have a major impact on the future of the internet as age-verification laws have spread to half of the US and around the world.In response, digital and human rights organization Fight for the Future is hosting a week of events—across Reddit, LinkedIn, and various livestreams—to raise awareness of how it believes these bills are setting a dangerous precedent by making the internet more exploitative rather than safer. Many of the proposed bills include a clause for ID or age verification, which forces people to upload an ID, allow a face scan, or otherwise authenticate that they are not a minor before viewing adult content. Fight for the Future says the policies will lead to increased censorship and surveillance.Among the 19 bills considered at the hearing conducted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee was the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which passed with sweeping bipartisan approval in the Senate last year, and the Reducing Exploitative Social Media Exposure for Teens Act, which would ban tech companies from allowing minors under the age of 16 on their platforms. In addition to age verification, the bills raised concerns over issues of parental controls, consumer research of minors, AI, and data privacy.“We’re seeing this huge wave toward ID checks being the norm in tech policy, and it felt like we needed to capture the already activated communities who are not feeling heard in Congress,” says Sarah Philips, a campaigner with Fight for the Future. “If you look on YouTube, if you see people making content about KOSA or responding to a lot of this legislation, it’s very unpopular with people. But it’s viewed on the Hill as very common-sense.”Missouri’s age-gate law took effect earlier this week, meaning 25 US states have passed a form of age verification. The process usually involves third-party services, which can be especially prone to data breaches. This year, the UK also passed a mandate for age verification—the Online Safety Act—and Australia’s teen social media ban, which requires social media companies to deactivate the accounts of users under the age of 16, goes into effect on December 10. Instagram, YouTube, Snap, and TikTok are complying with the historic ban.Philips believes the laws are a direct threat to democratic freedom. “These are censorship laws,” she says. “In the South, where I live, these same proposals mimic a lot of the arguments that you see behind book bans and behind laws that criminalize gender-affirming health care or abortion information.”In March, over 90 human rights advocacy groups signed a coalition letter opposing online ID-check mandates. “The internet is not improved by treating its users like criminal suspects and our lives as opportunities for corporate profit,” David Swanson, campaign coordinator at RootsAction.org, wrote in the letter. “Legislators defunding education to invest in wars, police, prisons, borders, and constant surveillance should think hard before claiming to be acting on behalf of children.”Though Tuesday’s hearing did not advance any legislation, it included testimonies from Joel Thayer, president of the Digital Progress Institute, and Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology. “The government and social media platforms should not be—indeed, with respect to the government, cannot be—the sole arbiters of the content children can see and services that they can access online,” Ruane said during her testimony.Fight for the Future’s resistance campaign against online age verification.
Courtesy of Fight for the FutureThe package of bills is indicative of how Congress has failed to deliver real solutions, Philips says. “We have repeatedly asked them to focus on comprehensive privacy legislation, on antitrust issues, and on things that actually protect us from the surveillance capitalist business model of big tech companies. Congress says they’re holding big tech accountable, but most of the options on the table just mandate verification.” According to The Verge, a revamped version of KOSA removes tech companies’ liability in mitigating potential harms caused by their platforms.In an op-ed for Teen Vogue published in October, Fight for the Future director Evan Greer and campaigner Janus Rose criticized Democratic lawmakers who support KOSA, including the bill’s cowriter, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. “KOSA takes the same logic of the bans on drag shows and LGBTQ+ books and applies it to the internet, allowing censorship of a broad range of information in the name of protecting kids from real online harm,” Greer noted.But since KOSA and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act failed to gain approval last year, “it’ll be interesting to see what actually floats to the top right now,” Philips says, concerned that some of the bills could be attached to the National Defense Authorization Act or have the Trump administration’s 10-year moratorium on state AI regulations attached to them, “which is a disaster tornado of tech policies.”Philips tells me she isn’t disheartened by the work, because she wants people to understand what’s really at stake in the fight ahead.“The thing that people misunderstand most about age verification is that it actually applies to all of us,” she says. “A lot of the people pushing for age verification solely focus on kids, because that’s the discussion happening in Congress or on the Hill. But in actuality, if we age-gate the internet and implement mandates, that means that you have to prove that you’re not a child—whether you’re 18 or 50. Everyone will have to interact with this.”CommentsBack to topTriangleYou Might Also Like …In your inbox: Our biggest stories, handpicked for you each dayThe TikTok users tripping on BenadrylBig Story: All of my employees are AI agentsZuckerberg opened an illegal school in Palo Alto. His neighbors revoltedSpecial Edition: Readings from the furthest reaches of the AI ageJason Parham is a senior writer at WIRED where he covers internet culture, the future of sex, and the intersection of race and power in America. His WIRED cover story “A People’s History of Black Twitter” was adapted into a Hulu docuseries in 2024, and won the AAFCA Award for ... 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The proliferation of age-gated internet access is rapidly reshaping the American digital landscape, triggering a significant pushback from digital rights advocates like Fight for the Future. As of December 2025, over half of the country now mandates age verification for accessing content deemed “harmful,” primarily adult material, reflecting a broader trend fueled by legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). This shift is characterized by requirements to upload identification or submit to facial scans to confirm an individual’s adulthood, raising substantial concerns about privacy, surveillance, and potential censorship.

The core of the controversy centers around the increasingly common practice of demanding proof of age for online activity. Organizations like Fight for the Future view these measures as a dangerous precedent, arguing they establish a surveillance state and facilitate broader censorship beyond just adult content. They contend that such policies are inherently exploitative, targeting not just children but anyone seeking to prove they aren’t a minor – a prospect that stretches to individuals across a wide age range. The movement’s opposition underscores anxieties about the potential for these safeguards to be applied more broadly, effectively limiting access to information and expression based on age.

Several pieces of legislation are driving this trend, most notably KOSA, which has gained significant bipartisan support in the Senate. Simultaneously, measures like the Reducing Exploitative Social Media Exposure for Teens Act—aimed at banning minors under 16 from social media platforms—have amplified concerns about the infantilization of online spaces. These bills have triggered a wave of resistance, with over 90 human rights advocacy groups issuing a coalition letter opposing ID-based verification mandates. The shift reflects a deep-seated apprehension regarding the government's role in dictating online content and the potential for such actions to mirror existing restrictions on access to sensitive information, such as those related to LGBTQ+ rights or reproductive health.

Beyond the immediate legal challenges, the movement highlights fundamental disagreements about the role of tech companies and governments in regulating online content. Critics argue that these actions prioritize corporate interests and pose a threat to democratic freedoms. Joel Thayer, president of the Digital Progress Institute, and Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, have voiced concerns that allowing the government and social media platforms to determine acceptable online content is fundamentally incompatible with freedom of expression. The resistance isn't simply about protecting children; it's fundamentally about safeguarding the open and decentralized nature of the internet.

The rapid spread of these policies reflects a larger disillusionment with Congress’s ability to effectively address critical issues. Fight for the Future argues that the focus on age verification represents a deflection from more pressing concerns, such as privacy legislation, antitrust measures against tech giants, and addressing the “surveillance capitalist business model.” The increasing concern stems from the removal of liability from tech companies by KOSA, effectively allowing them to manage potential harms—a move widely criticized for prioritizing corporate interests over user safety. The tension between legislative efforts and the resistance movement indicates a significant divide within the digital sphere concerning the future of online access and freedom.