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Global Age-Verification Policies

Last updated: 19 March 2025

The Free Speech Coalition primarily focuses on legislation and policies within the United States. The following list of global age-verification policies is provided as a resource for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, laws and regulations change frequently, and some information may be outdated or incorrect. We encourage individuals and businesses to verify details with official government sources or legal experts.

Australia

Online Safety Act 2021

Status

The Online Safety Act 2021 provides for industry bodies or associations to develop codes to regulate certain types of “harmful” online material, and for eSafety to register and enforce the codes.

Despite deciding not to implement age-verification requirements in 2023 due to privacy concerns, the Australian government turned around announced a $6.5m pilot program to test age-assurance technology in 2024.

The Phase 2 codes regulate adult content. Final drafts of the codes were submitted to the eSafety Commissioner on 28 February 2025. eSafety has not endorsed the draft codes and is currently undertaking an assessment of whether the draft codes submitted meet the statutory requirements for registration.

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Canada

Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act (Bill S-210)

Status

Bill S-210 was introduced in Canadian Parliament in 2021. Despite significant opposition, the bill passed in the Senate and was reported out of committee in the House of Commons in June 2024. The committee report was not adopted and the bill lapsed when President Trudeau announced his resignation in January 2025. For the bill to be reconsidered, it would need to be reintroduced in a future parliamentary session.

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European Commission

Status

The DSA and AVMSD both require platforms to shield minors from harmful content and the DSA imposes specific obligations on very large platforms and very large search engines (“VLOPs” and “VLOSEs”) to prevent minors “from accessing pornographic content online, including with age verification tools.” Notably, the DSA does not extend the same obligations to online platforms that do not meet the criteria for a VLOP or a VLOSE (i.e. less than 45 million monthly active users in the EU).

There are plans for an EU Digital Wallet to be introduced at the end of 2026 and VLOPs will be required to accept them as proof of age.

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France

Sécuriser et Réguler l’Espace Numérique Act (SREN)

Status

Enacted in May 2024, the law requires websites with adult content to implement robust age verification systems to prevent minors from accessing such material. These systems should comply with standards set by the French Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom).

Following the publication of Arcom’s standards in October 2024, websites had a three-month period to comply, with an additional three-month transitional phase where bank card verification is temporarily acceptable. A small handful of companies have been targeted with notices to comply.

In April 2025, sites will have to offer tools deemed more secure and reliable, which will comply with a certain number of rules in terms of reliability and privacy protection. To ensure reliability, the proposed solutions must prevent any tampering with proof of age and must be managed by independent providers. Sites must also implement a “double anonymity” solution, ensuring that neither the site publisher nor the provider know both the identity of the user and the sites they visit.

In the meantime, and based on the 2020 law, several requests to block pornographic sites that do not verify the age of their visitors are still being considered by the French courts.

In late 2024, France’s high court ordered telecom providers to block four adult sites if they did not immediately implement age-verification.  

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Germany

Status

German criminal law prohibits making pornographic material available to minors under the age of 18, which meant that German platforms were required to implement age-verification since the early 2000s. Enforcement of age-verification for online platforms began in 2019, with regulatory action against one site. They’ve gone on to attempt to block multiple sites by ordering telecom providers to block them, but have been tied up in court and appeals.

The law applies to anyone sharing adult content online without age-verification, including individuals on social media. In 2022, enforcement began against users sharing adult content on Twitter. People were fined thousands and threatened with prison.

While the law is in effect, enforcement has seemingly been difficult. A decision in October 2023 seemingly cleared the way for the Die Landesanstalt für Medien NRW to order telecom providers to block, but there’s been no further updates that we’re aware of and sites are still available in Germany.

In early 2025, German telecom providers sued the German media regulator, arguing that its authority was superseded by that of the European Commission, and that they were no longer required to block adult sites.

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Ireland

Protection of Children Bill 2024

Status

On 4 July 2024, the Protection of Children (Online Age Verification) Bill 2024 was introduced to the Parliament of Ireland. It required ISPs and app stores to ensure that minors are unable to access adult content through age-verification. The Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Dáil (the lower house of the Irish Parliament) in January 2025 and is no longer under active consideration. For the bill to be reconsidered, it would need to be reintroduced in a future parliamentary session.

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Italy

Caivano Decree

Status

In reaction to a terrible crime in August 2023, the Italian Government issued the “Caivano” Decree, a policy aimed at protecting children online. Article 13-bis of the Caivano Decree prohibits allowing minors access to pornographic content and requires online providers of this content to verify the age of majority of users, in order to prevent minors from accessing the content. The Italian Communications Authority (AGCom) is tasked with defining the technical standards for these systems, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations. 

AGCom’s Age Verification Technical Rules, which require double-anonymous age verification via the national digital identity system SPID, went into force in February 2025. The law is technically in effect despite the fact that AGCom has not published a list of age-verification systems that are accredited as satisfying the rules.

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Spain

Cartera Digital Beta (“Pajaporte”)

Status

Spain’s Cartera Digital Beta is a digital initiative aimed at preventing minors from accessing online pornographic content by verifying users’ ages. It is a digital wallet app that generates 30 anonymous credentials that users can share to gain access to adult websites. The tokens expire every 30 days and are useable up to 10 times per website (causing the program to be referred to as a “monthly masturbation permit” online).

The development of the Cartera Digital Beta has encountered technical complexities, delaying its official rollout. As of February 2025, the system was still under review by the Centro Criptológico Nacional (CCN) to ensure its security and effectiveness. As of March 2025, the Cartera Digital Beta remains in the development and testing phase, with no official launch date announced.

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United Kingdom

Online Safety Act

Status

Under the Online Safety Act, websites and platforms that display or publish their own pornographic content (Part 5 services) must take steps from 17 January 2025 to implement highly effective age assurance to ensure that children are not normally able to encounter pornography.

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