Age Verification Requirements
Protecting minors without compromising privacy or innovation.
What is the issue?
Age verification laws are being proposed and enacted across multiple states, aiming to protect minors from accessing certain experiences online.
While the intent is to create safer digital spaces for young users, the practical implementation of these laws often introduces new challenges-especially for developers who must handle verification securely and responsibly.
Verifying user age without collecting or storing sensitive data is technically complex and can easily conflict with existing privacy laws.
How does it affect developers?
- Privacy concerns - Saddling developers with identity documents or personal data to confirm age increases the risk of data breaches and user mistrust.
- Higher costs - Processing and storing sensitive age data is expensive, especially for small teams that lack resources.
- App download friction - One-size-fits-all requirements-like requiring parental approval for every app downloaded by a minor, including weather apps and math games-decreases app downloads.
- Liability exposure - Developers could face penalties for mis-verification, security failures, or non-compliance with state-specific mandates.
Our Position
We support age-appropriate design principles that:
- Protect minors from harmful experiences,
- Respect user privacy and data, and
- Avoid imposing overly complex or costly verification mandates on developers.
A balanced, privacy-first approach keeps users safe while allowing developers to innovate without intrusive data collection.
Why It Matters
The goal of protecting children online is shared by everyone-but good intentions must be matched with smart implementation.
If handled poorly, age verification laws can inadvertently create new privacy risks, barriers to entry for small developers, and friction for users.
Thoughtful, consistent standards can ensure online safety while preserving trust, usability, and the open nature of the web.
Alliance 2.0 will be launching in the coming months. We'll be focused on amplifying developer voices through issue advocacy, and giving you the resources you need to make an impact worldwide.