Age verification is fast becoming a requirement online. US states, the UK, the EU, and Australia now demand more than a checkbox. The question is not whether to verify, but how.

ID upload asks users to hand government documents to a website they may never visit again. And when a verification vendor is breached, every stored document is compromised at once. Storing documents creates the liability.

Facial scanning works, but it builds infrastructure that outlasts the check. A system that estimates your age today can identify you tomorrow. Platforms that rolled it out met immediate backlash and reversals. Users do not trust platforms with their face.

Self-declaration, the "I am over 18" checkbox, is explicitly prohibited by every major regulator in the UK, EU, and Australia.