The rollout of age verification has been a massive story in the digital privacy sphere throughout 2025. Beyond the general frustration of constant checks, everyday users and privacy advocates have expressed deep concerns regarding the security implications.
The primary worry centers on the de-anonymization of the internet, requiring individuals to hand over sensitive identification data to unknown third-party handlers just to access information.
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How does age verification pose a risk to your ID/data?
The primary threat age verification poses is to online anonymity. Increasingly, people's browsing habits and history are being linked directly to their real-world identity. Privacy advocates argue this could lead to increased or normalized surveillance, where private online activity is no longer private.
There are also significant concerns regarding how the identifiable data used to prove age is handled and processed. For instance, over 70,000 government ID photos were leaked when the third-party provider used by Discord got hacked.
Users must question whether the third-party services collecting this data take appropriate measures to protect it from interception that could lead to identity theft. Questions remain regarding how soon data is deleted after verification and how robust the privacy policies of these third-party handlers actually are.
Furthermore, there is ambiguity regarding who decides what content falls under the umbrella of "adult" or "dangerous." There is a risk that legitimate, useful resources could be made harder to reach for politicized reasons or due to overly broad definitions.
Using a VPN can help readers reclaim aspects of their privacy. Through encryption and location spoofing, a VPN makes it significantly more difficult for third parties to track activity or link specific browsing sessions to a physical location.
Unfortunately, this utility is also why VPN usage is currently under attack. Some US states (Michigan and Wisconsin) are looking to ban VPN traffic specifically to prevent people from circumventing age restrictions, a situation the TechRadar team is keeping tabs on, along with the significant backlash it is causing.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone using a VPN service to break the law or conduct illegal activities. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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