Age Verification
All children deserve to be safe and connected online. However, legislation mandating age verification measures would have serious unintended consequences for the privacy, rights, and data security of kids and all internet users. Requiring users to disclose personal information for age-verification, while well intentioned, would require government IDs information or biometrics that could potentially expose sensitive data to hackers and other bad actors online if sites or databases are breached. Turning over that data to online platforms would also eliminate the constitutionally-protected right to anonymity as part of free speech. Congress should prioritize kids’ privacy and safety without making them more vulnerable and stripping their rights, and instead empower parents to be active participants in how their children operate online.
Serious Consequences for Data Security and Protected Rights:
Compliance with age-verification requirements will force online platforms to collect users’ personally identifiable information including government-issued identification documents unnecessarily putting users’ sensitive data at the risk of data breaches. The legislative language would apply this to all websites kids could conceivably access: essentially the entire internet.
Other countries like France that have tried to implement age verification requirements for websites have found the technology to do it in a manner that guarantees privacy protection does not exist.
The Supreme Court and lower courts have repeatedly affirmed the right to anonymity as part of protected free speech under the First Amendment. Legislative proposals requiring age verification ignore that right because users would be forced to reveal their identity.
Experts and Advocates Agree the Internet Is Critical for Youth Mental Health and Community Building
“The legislation would also increase the amount of data firms must collect, store, catalogue, and potentially delete for all users, including minors, undermining the stated goal of the legislation. The bill could seriously impact users’ rights to view content and speak online anonymously, chipping away at two of the foundational principles of a free and open internet, while at the same time increasing the amount of sensitive information platforms collect from users.” - American Action Forum
“No matter how a social media platform decides to verify your age, it will need to collect more of your personal information, from your birth certificate to your school records to biometrics. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s a private company contracted by the social media platform or a government agency doing the data processing. The bottom line is that this process exposes you to more privacy threats, such as potential data abuse, data leaks, and identity theft…” - Andrey Meshkov, co-founder and CTO of AdGuard ad blocker