Age verification laws are exploding across the United States — and they’re coming straight for your privacy.On February 25, 2026, the FTC issued a COPPA policy statement that openly encourages platforms to roll out age verification technologies — even relaxing enforcement so companies can collect selfies, government IDs, or facial scans to "estimate age" without prior parental consent in some cases.FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Christopher Mufarrige declared:
“Age verification technologies are some of the most child-protective technologies to emerge in decades... Our statement incentivizes operators to use these innovative tools, empowering parents to protect their children online.”THE FTC HAS LOST ITS MIND.We are losing our privacy under the guise of "child safety." These laws and policies are forcing platforms to make users — adults, teens, and kids alike — scan their faces, upload government IDs, or send selfies just to access websites, games, social media, YouTube comments, or basic online services.This isn’t protection — it’s mass surveillance dressed up as safety. Biometric age verification is:Easily bypassed — Kids and bad actors use deepfakes, makeup tricks, borrowed IDs, VPNs, or shared accounts to get around it (we’ve seen it on Roblox, Discord, TikTok, and more). 
Dangerously invasive — It builds massive databases of our faces and personal info that can be hacked, leaked, sold, or misused by governments and companies. 
Discriminatory — It fails people with darker skin tones, women, older adults, disabled users, or anyone without a smartphone/ID — widening the digital divide. 
A gateway to censorship — Once mandatory age checks are in place, they can block access to news, information, or communities governments (or platforms) don’t like.
371 scientists and researchers from 29 countries signed an open letter on March 2, 2026, demanding an immediate moratorium on age assurance technologies. They warn these systems are faulty, ineffective, privacy-destroying, and risky — and may cause more harm than good. The letter calls on governments to pause until real scientific proof shows they work without catastrophic downsides.We cannot silence our mixed-age communities — families, friends, online groups, educational spaces, support networks, and creative spaces thrive on free interaction across ages. Forcing biometric checks threatens everyone’s digital freedom, not just children.The UK Online Safety Act is proof it’s already too late to stop.
The UK’s OSA has forced platforms to roll out facial scans and ID verification, and the changes won’t get reverted — once these systems are built in, they stay. As user iphoneisstrong1234 put it:
“But it could been in the UK. The UK OSA forces facial scans and ID scans which is a privacy violation. Buh bye!”We cannot let the U.S. follow the same path.SIGN THIS PETITION to tell U.S. lawmakers, the FTC, and regulators:
NO to biometric age verification mandates.
NO to forcing selfies, IDs, or facial scans on the public.
YES to real, privacy-respecting solutions — stronger moderation, optional parental tools, content warnings, and design improvements — without turning the internet into a surveillance state.Add your name now — our privacy, our freedom, and our future depend on it.
Share this petition everywhere — let’s make sure regulators hear us loud and clear before it’s too late.