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Jun 21, 2026Mum 'not sure' social media ban would have saved son - BBC Jun 21, 2026Why the rush? Questions over Labour’s social media ban - North East Bylines Jun 21, 2026UK government plans social media ban for under-16s, sparking debate over enforcement and privacy - Crypto Briefing Jun 21, 2026Will social media ban become obstacle to empowering young people? - The Independent Jun 21, 2026'I don't know what I'm going to do with my time when social media is banned' - BBC Jun 20, 2026How the social media ban could reshape how all of us use the internet - BBC Jun 20, 2026On the Radar: False AI Overviews, UK’s Social Media Ban and Teen Dangers on Snapchat - Plugged In Jun 20, 2026Channel Islands urged to take time on under-16s social media ban - BBC Jun 20, 2026Under 16s social media ban is a 'missional opportunity' - www.christiantoday.com Jun 20, 2026Will the under-16s social media ban work? - The Week Jun 20, 2026Take our phones too! Let’s add adults to the social media ban - Financial Times Jun 19, 2026After social media ban, AI bans could be next for school kids - Digital Trends Jun 19, 2026The UK’s social media ban for under-16s has just empowered big tech | Taylor Lorenz - The Guardian Jun 19, 2026Australia's social media ban shows UK child safety measures are bound to fail — and it's not because of VPNs - TechRadar Jun 19, 2026Reality check: Could the UK's social media ban lead to VPN restrictions? - TechRadar Jun 19, 2026What Does the UK’s Social Media Ban Mean for the Future of Art and Culture? - Ocula Jun 19, 2026The UK’s New Under-16 Social Media Ban Will Cause More Harm Than It Prevents - Electronic Frontier Foundation Jun 19, 2026Long Island parents would welcome a UK-style social media ban for kids - Newsday Jun 19, 2026Panel of federal judges upholds Ohio's age verification law on social media, websites - The Statehouse News Bureau Jun 18, 2026Social media ban or not, parents face dilemma over kids’ online safety - CBC Jun 18, 2026Social media ban: saving kids or punishing them? | Letters - The Guardian Jun 18, 2026Florida accuses TikTok of violating child social media ban, AG says app puts kids at risk - Fox Business Jun 18, 2026Should the US impose a teen social media ban like the UK? - BBC Jun 18, 2026Is the UK really considering a VPN ban after its social media crackdown? - Cybernews Jun 18, 2026After UK, UAE imposes social media ban on under-15s, becomes first Arab nation to do so - WION Jun 18, 2026Ban or no ban, parents face dilemma over kids’ online safety - CBC Jun 18, 2026We must be alive to the dangers of a UK social media ban – and the way to really help young people | Rosie Parkyn - The Guardian Jun 18, 2026Age verification law risks blocking valuable information, exposing data - Dallas News Jun 18, 2026UK moves forward with social media ban - FOX 2 Detroit Jun 17, 2026South Australia premier says youth social media ban is working, 6 months later - CBS News

Surveillance watch · online age-verification & ID laws

Who has to hand over an ID
to use the internet

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13 countries enforcing on this date. Drag to watch the wave build over time.

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Country by country, governments are building systems that make you prove who you are to use the internet. It often starts with adult sites, and it rarely ends there. This map tracks the spread worldwide, and advances on its own as each law takes effect.

Data last reviewed 2026-06-21 · Online age-verification laws by country

The case against

A child-safety label on a surveillance system

Age verification sounds simple. In practice it forces every adult to hand sensitive identity documents to private companies, ends anonymous access to lawful speech, and lays the track for a papers-please internet. Here is why we oppose it.

Your ID becomes a database entry

To reach lawful content you upload a government ID or submit to a face scan, often handed to a third-party vendor. That creates a record tying your real name to what you looked at. Such records get breached, subpoenaed, and sold. The risk is not hypothetical.

Anonymous reading ends

The Supreme Court that upheld these laws conceded they burden adults' speech. Reading and watching without showing your papers is part of free expression. Strip it away and lawful behavior is chilled far beyond the stated target.

It never stops at adult sites

The same age-and-ID machinery is already spreading to social media, app stores, and anything a legislature labels "harmful to minors." Each new law normalizes an identity checkpoint for one more corner of the internet.

It builds the digital-ID state

Mandatory age checks are the on-ramp to an internet where access to ordinary services depends on proving who you are. That is a civil-liberties problem dressed up as a parenting tool, and it lands on everyone, not just the people lawmakers name.

And it does not even work. A determined teenager reaches a VPN or an offshore site in seconds. The lasting effect is not safer kids. It is law-abiding adults surveilled, and traffic pushed toward sites with fewer safeguards, not more.

The spread, 2003 to today

Watch it happen

These laws are spreading across the country like a virus -- year by year, state by state, watch the map turn red.

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Every country, tracked

Age-verification & online ID laws by country

More than 170 countries. Open any country for its laws, bills, effective dates, VPN and digital-ID status, and primary sources.

Browse all 172 countries