SAY NO to Biometric Age Verification Laws: Your Privacy Should Not Require a Selfie or ID

STOP FORCING SELFIES AND IDS JUST TO TALK IN GAME!

Age verification laws are exploding across the U.S. — and they're coming straight for your privacy.On February 25, 2026, the FTC dropped a COPPA policy statement that green-lights platforms to roll out aggressive age verification tech — selfies, government IDs, and facial scans — while relaxing enforcement so companies can collect this data without prior parental consent in many cases.FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Christopher Mufarrige cheered it on: “Age verification technologies are some of the most child-protective technologies to emerge in decades... Our statement incentivizes operators to use these innovative tools.”The FTC has completely lost the plot.These rules are forcing everyone — adults and kids alike — to scan their faces, upload IDs, or snap selfies just to browse websites, comment, scroll social media, or simply talk in games.And it's already happening on the platforms kids actually use — all in the name of the so-called "gold standard for communication safety" and the not-so-magic claim "we are also limiting communication between adults and minors" — a system designed to limit minor-adult communication that does not work.Real-World Examples:Roblox has recently reached a bad settlement across 3 states: Nevada ($12 million), Alabama ($12.2 million), and West Virginia ($11.08 million), totaling $35.28 million. All three states are forcing Roblox to introduce further "safety measures," including Mandatory Age Verification for chat — even though this was never legally required.
Even though these 3 states have no power to punish Roblox for not meeting an optional requirement like "Mandatory Age Verification for chat", they are still pushing it. This means these states could face lawsuits if they unfairly punish Roblox for not complying with these overreaching demands. Among other requirements:
• $10 million funding for Boys & Girls Club and other non-digital activities
• $1 million for an online safety awareness campaign
• Liaisons with state law enforcement
• Communications amongst minors cannot be encrypted
• Alerts for minors entering private chats
• Dedicated safety specialists and public campaigns Is this how we protect kids?! NO! Roblox cannot realistically meet all these demands without massive overreach into user privacy.
On December 11, 2025, Roblox stated: “No single individual is responsible for our decision to require age checks...” Yet this is clearly their own choice. 
Popular Roblox YouTuber KreekCraft almost lost his account after the system mistakenly flagged him as under 13. 
Whistleblower Schlep, who helped catch bad actors, was banned and wrongly blamed on Roblox’s AI age verification update — he has publicly stated he does not support Roblox’s age estimation. 
Discord now warns that if you do not verify your age, certain features will be restricted — and the platform has already suffered major data breaches. 
Fortnite’s age requirement forces users to be 13+ to have a full account to comply with COPPA. 
User JackysCornField tweeted: “theyre forcing you to do id verifications to make new accounts on roblox now great.” 
PlayStation has announced and begun rolling out age verification for users in the UK and Ireland to comply with the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA). Users must verify via facial scan, ID, or other methods to access voice chat and messaging, starting in June 2026. 
In the UK, Minecraft already requires age verification for chat and multiplayer features.
The Scope of the ThreatThis isn't limited to a few platforms — the push is broad, multi-layered, and accelerating:Federal level: The App Store Accountability Act (H.R. 3149 / S. 1586) would force Apple, Google, and other app stores to verify every user’s age. 
State level: Maryland’s HB1179 mirrors the federal push and requires app stores to verify ages using “commercially available methods.” Similar bills are advancing in multiple states. 
New York: While no law currently requires platforms to have age verification just for chat, the proposed Stop Online Predators Act (SOPA) would cause major overcorrection by mandating age verification and strict default restrictions — and it is already facing significant challenges. 
Platform & international spillover: What starts as “chat safety” on Roblox or PlayStation quickly becomes mandatory surveillance for the entire internet.
What started as “protect the children” is turning into mandatory biometric surveillance just to participate in online life.Biometric age verification is:Easily bypassed by deepfakes, VPNs, and shared accounts 
Dangerously invasive — creating massive, hackable databases of faces and personal data 
Discriminatory — performing poorly on darker skin tones, elderly users, people with disabilities, and those without smartphones or IDs 
A dangerous gateway to censorship and control
On March 2, 2026, 371 scientists and researchers from 29 countries signed an open letter demanding an immediate moratorium on these technologies, warning they are ineffective and will cause far more harm than good.The UK’s Online Safety Act already shows where this road leads: once these systems are rolled out, they are almost never reversed unless it faces challenges or backlash.We cannot let the U.S. or Maryland follow the same disastrous path.