More from Let me see some ID: age verification is spreading across the internet
Bills like California’s Digital Age Assurance Act will require operating systems to confirm their users’ ages, but the developers of the privacy-focused Android fork said in a post on X on Friday that they’re not planning to age-gate their operating system:
“GrapheneOS will remain usable by anyone around the world without requiring personal information, identification or an account. GrapheneOS and our services will remain available internationally. If GrapheneOS devices can’t be sold in a region due to their regulations, so be it.”
Spokesperson Peter Ajemian tells The Verge that Apple has since removed the prompt, which showed up for UK users who downloaded the latest iOS 26.4 beta:
Some users on the beta software in the UK temporarily saw a message suggesting age verification is required to download apps. That message was displayed in error, and has been fixed. Developers may continue to use the Declared Age Range API to provide age appropriate experiences for users.
App stores are gateways. Lawmakers want them to have checkpoints.
Coming into force this year: AI regulations galore, a teen social media lockdown, and “Taylor Swift” laws.
Porn is increasingly age-gated. Social media is next.
Bluesky already blocked users in Mississippi over the state’s age verification law. Now Mastodon has told TechCrunch it doesn’t “have the means” to comply with the law, leaving its future in the state, and others considering similarly restrictive age verification laws, in doubt.
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