News
Twitch Forces Partners to Show ID To Persona to Collect Earnings
Twitch is asking streamers to hand over a government ID and selfie to a controversial third-party service to collect money they’ve already earned.
iPhone Software Beta’s UK Age Verification Screen Raises Questions
The screen Apple called an “error” revealed exactly how the company plans to use your credit history, account age, and payment data to decide what you’re allowed to download.
Apple Expands Age Checks to Australia, Brazil, Singapore, and US States
The company selling privacy as a feature is now running age screening on 18+ app downloads without explaining what data makes that determination possible.
Germany’s SPD Pushes Mandatory Government ID Verification for Social Media
The SPD is selling this as child protection, but the architecture they’re building looks a lot more like a checkpoint than a parental control.
The FSB Has a New Word for Encryption: Terrorism
The man who outlasted a French arrest now faces a Russian prison threat from the country he left behind two decades ago.
UK’s Reddit Fine Forces Users Into Mass Biometric Surveillance
Reddit’s fix for protecting children’s data requires adults to hand their face and government ID to a third-party system that runs 269 verification checks per person.
LA County Sues Roblox Over False Child Safety Claims and Lack of Age Verification
The false advertising angle is LA County’s way around the First Amendment maze; not “did Roblox harm children?” but “did Roblox lie about it?” – a question courts are far more comfortable answering.
MembersFrom Private Conversation to Police Report in the Age of AI
Eight months of flagged conversations, five wrongful death lawsuits, and a Canadian school shooting later, lawmakers have found their argument for turning AI chatbots into government reporting networks.
Xbox UK Age Verification Launch Locks Out Thousands of Players
The UK’s age verification mandate arrived as promised, and Xbox delivered it by ejecting players mid-session, stripping away chat, and treating 18-year account holders like suspicious strangers.
Macron Asks Trump to Lift Visa Ban on Censorship Law Architect
Macron is asking Washington to welcome back the architect of the law that got X fined.
Colorado Senate Bill Would Require Apple and Google to Embed ID Checks in Operating Systems
Colorado’s OS-level age verification bill sidesteps the failures that killed its predecessors by making Apple and Google do the heavy lifting and outsourcing the problem to a more powerful set of defendants.
Newsom Backs Teen Social Media Ban After Daughter’s Birthday Party Phone Moment
The governor who couldn’t bring himself to say “put the phones down” at his own daughter’s party is now asking the state to say it for every family in California.