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R47884 — Identifying Minors Online

Reports · published 2025-09-23 · v8 · Active · crsreports.congress.gov ↗

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Authors
Clare Y. Cho
Report id
R47884
Summary

Concerns about potential harms to minors on the internet, particularly on social media platforms, have grown in recent years. Dating to the 1990s, policymakers have enacted legislation seeking to protect minors online, some of which create requirements for entities that provide websites, mobile applications, and online platforms (collectively, website operators). Website operators have developed various methods to determine users’ ages, often in response to federal or state legislation. Some commonly used methods include (1) relying on self-identification, such as requiring a user to provide their date of birth or check a box to indicate the user is of a certain age; (2) requesting documentation, such as a photo identification (ID) or a digitized driver’s license containing the user’s name and age; and (3) using consumer data, such as analyzing user content posted on the website or an image of the user’s face. Each of these age verification methods presents different advantages and challenges. For example, everyone can provide a date of birth, but a website operator cannot verify that information without additional data or documentation. A website operator that receives a user’s government-issued photo ID might be assured that the individual meets a minimum age requirement, but not everyone has a government-issued photo ID. This might also raise consumer data privacy concerns, depending on how the information is shared and stored. Some Members of Congress have proposed increasing protections for minors online by implementing additional requirements for website operators. Website operators might respond by (1) implementing changes for all users; (2) implementing changes for individuals identified as minors, potentially using one of the methods mentioned above; (3) no longer offering certain services; or (4) no longer offering the entire service in the United States. If Congress chooses not to address age verification methods used by website operators in legislation, website operators might still develop and implement new age verification methods in response to public scrutiny, lawsuits, and laws enacted by states and other countries. If Congress seeks to address age verification in legislation, some potential options include the following: Supporting research on age verification. Congress could, for example, provide funding for or direct a federal agency to conduct research related to age verification. This might help inform Congress for future legislative action. Website operators would be able to continue using a wide range of age verification methods. The Kids Online Safety Act (S. 1748), for example, would direct some federal agencies to conduct a study evaluating methods to verify age at the device or operating system level. Directing a federal agency to issue guidance or regulations. An agency could, for example, provide criteria that are to be considered in the development of age verification methods. This could influence the age verification methods that website operators develop and use. A consideration might include how much authority to provide the agency. The SCREEN Act (H.R. 1623, S. 737), for example, would direct the Federal Trade Commission to provide guidance to the covered platform on complying with requirements to use a technology verification measure to verify a user’s age. Requiring or prohibiting certain age verification methods. Website operators’ responses would likely depend on the number and type of options specified. Allowing operators to use various forms of age verification, for example, might not address Congress’s concerns or may raise new ones. Limiting the methods operators can use might increase the likelihood that they are unable or unwilling to determine a user’s age. The CHAT Act (S. 2714) would require entities that operate AI chatbots to verify a user’s age using a “commercially available method or process that is reasonably designed to ensure accuracy.” Implementing or supporting a government age verification system. Legislative options could include directing a federal agency to develop a system to help confirm users’ ages or incentivize states to implement an age verification system. Some considerations might include which agency would be best suited to provide the system and what information would be provided to whom. Some general considerations for Congress might include (1) who should be responsible for determining an individual’s age online, (2) how would legislation on age verification be implemented and what are the potential effects, and (3) how an entity conducting age verification online can confirm that individuals are who they claim to be.

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