Oppose Age Verification Mandates for Internet Access

Various federal and state bills have been introduced to require age verification for internet platforms. While the purported purpose of these bills is to protect children from certain online content, they also raise concerns about privacy, accountability, and free expression.

Several platforms, apps, and websites in the US and abroad already use forms of age verification with varying degrees of success, requiring users to upload government documents or scan their face for age estimation. However, many of these measures are experimental and AI-driven, allowing platforms to collect and store personally identifying information, regardless of the user’s age. These platforms are often subject to data breaches. Digital rights advocacy groups also worry that the required disclosure of this personal information would fundamentally undermine the “ability under the First Amendment to engage in anonymous speech online”.

Several bills moving through Congress would expand age verification requirements in ways that raise these same privacy and free speech concerns:

• The App Store Accountability Act (S. 1586) / H.R. 3149), which is backed by several tech billionaires, puts the responsibility on app stores, shifting accountability for users’ safety onto individuals, rather than their predatory platforms.

• The Parents Decide Act (H.R. 8250) “simply passes on the responsibility for child safety online entirely to parents, rather than pushing platforms to make their products safer for everyone."

• The Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) sponsored SCREEN Act (S. 737 / H.R. 1623) would require any platform hosting content deemed “harmful to minors” to verify the age of all users, potentially through government ID or biometric scans, resulting in a less private internet for everyone.

• The CHATBOT Act, (S. 4407) would require AI chatbot services to verify users’ ages and let parental accounts monitor the full contents of a minor’s conversations with a chatbot.

Age verification technology poses a threat to our online security. Tell your representatives to oppose any legislation that doesn’t prioritize users’ privacy and platform accountability.