Earlier this year, the United Kingdom enacted legislation requiring users to present government ID to access online platforms to verify they are adults. Similar policies are now under consideration in several U.S. states including a law allowed to take effect in Mississippi. Cato’s Jennifer Huddleston warns that the well-intentioned legislation can potentially have nightmarish consequences for both speech and privacy rights.
In her new article, Huddleston remarks that such regulation forces websites to err on the side of caution rather than carry speech that could possibly be seen by anyone as objectionable. In the United Kingdom, for instance, after the Online Safety Law took effect, several major platforms blocked access to reporting on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. In practice, age-verification leaves many users bereft of important news and critical discourse. The UK’s experience also shows the privacy risks of ID-based age verification: over 70,000 IDs collected by Discord for compliance were compromised, exposing users’ sensitive information.
You can read more from Huddleston in her piece: Kids’ Online Safety Laws Could Dig a Graveyard for Speech and Privacy
To reach Huddleston, please feel free to contact PR at pr@cato.org