Age Verification Laws Herzog’s Guide to the Evolving Legal Landscape

In recent years, there has been a significant rise worldwide in the regulation of online platforms that provide or disseminate content, such as adult or social media platforms. There has been a focus on implementing

age verification laws in many jurisdictions including the US at the state level, Australia, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

The purpose of age verification laws is generally to protect minors online by creating a safer environment for minors online, including by specifically limiting minors’ access to harmful content.

Age verification laws vary among jurisdictions, and generally require platforms to use different age verification methods to ensure the age of their users prior to being able to open a social media account

or access adult content, typically by submitting an approved type of identification or using age estimation software.

The lack of effective industry self-regulation in recent decades and the harmful impacts of social media and access to adult platforms on minors have driven the rise of these regulations, amongst other reasons. These emerging frameworks shift responsibility for access control and the protection of minors away from user self-declaration onto platforms themselves. In practice, platforms are now required to implement and enforce mechanisms

to determine who can access specific categories of content, reflecting a formalization of a duty-of-care toward users.

To assist with understanding these regulatory developments, we have prepared a guide, which provides a snapshot in time for online platforms, showcasing a high-level overview of age verification laws currently in force in key jurisdictions for both adult content platforms and social media platforms. These laws are evolving in real time in governments and courthouses around the world, and thus the information in this guide is subject to change, may not reflect the status of ongoing litigation or injunctions, and does not constitute legal advice.

We anticipate age verification laws to continue to increase in jurisdictions around the world and evolve over time, requiring online platforms to be more accountable, proactive, and conscientious to create a

safer environment for minors online.

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