Age verification proposals for social media, app stores, and devices have proliferated across the nation at the federal and state level. One common theme is age-gating social media services, app stores, and/or devices for minors, usually through submission of a government-issued identification or biometric data. While well-intentioned, these bills have received significant pushback for their constitutionality, privacy, and safety issues. Even casting these (valid) concerns aside, age verification mandates would set the stage for an enforcement nightmare that could lock foreign-born residents out of valuable digital services and their devices by extension. Before rashly acting to “protect the children,” policymakers should carefully consider these sweeping unintended consequences.
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