Why U.S. politicians care about Britain's age verification law

A growing number of U.S. politicians are condemning a new British law that requires some U.S. websites and apps to check the ages of users across the pond.

A growing number of U.S. politicians are condemning a new British law that requires some websites and apps — including some based in the United States — to check the ages of users across the pond.

A bipartisan group of members of Congress visited London recently to meet counterparts and air their concerns about the U.K.’s Online Safety Act, which went into effect July 25. Vice President JD Vance has been criticizing the law for months, as have privacy advocates who argue that the law infringes on free expression and disproportionately hurts vulnerable groups.

Vance criticized the U.K. again on Friday, this time in person at the start of a visit to the country. Sitting alongside British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and speaking to reporters, Vance warned the U.K. against going down a “very dark path” of online “censorship” that he said was trod earlier by the Biden administration.

The U.K. Online Safety Act is aimed at preventing children from accessing potentially harmful material online, and internet companies are now asking British users to verify their ages in a variety of ways, including with photos of their IDs, through a credit card provider or with selfies analyzed via age-check software.

But the sweeping nature of the law has caught some Britons by surprise. They’re being asked to prove their age not only for pornography websites but also before they can listen to songs with explicit lyrics or access message boards to discuss sensitive subjects. Reddit, for example, is restricting access to various pages including r/stopsmoking, r/STD and r/aljazeera.