4 ms·

Also the EU's population is 450 million, while the UK's is 69 million. So losing the users stings 85% less.

mna_ 1y ago
Just looking at raw population isn't good enough because some countries are more "online" than others and the UK is one of those countries.
- Telaneo 1y ago
  Are any countries in the EU a lot less online than the rest, to the point that this matters more than a few percentage points? Even grandmas in Eastern Europe have smartphones now, and I don't think the EU has expanded to Sub-Saharan Africa quite yet (unless you want to count Réunion).
visualphoenix 1y ago
It’s not just the UK implementing age verification actively. 5 EU member states [0] are actively participating: Denmark, Greece, Spain, France [1], and Italy. Canada and Australia are jumping in [2] [3]. [0]: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_1820 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_... [1]: https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2024/france/la-loi-sren-securisation-et-regulation-de-l-espace-numerique-en-france https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2024/france/la-loi-sren... [2]:https://facia.ai/news/canada-proposes-age-checks-for-online-adult-content-access/ https://facia.ai/news/canada-proposes-age-checks-for-online-... [3]: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-11/age-verification-search-engines/105516256 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-11/age-verification-sear...
- devnullbrain 1y ago
  It puts a UK user in a weird situation. On one hand, the more countries that join in (and I've heard of US states too), the more likely it is that age verification becomes well supported and I continue having access to the wider world's internet. On the other hand, we've reached a very thick part of the wedge already: this is terrible for competition and I do not trust any state with this power. The best path is one of calamitous implementation that scares off other countries and embarrasses this one into a u-turn. But it's increasingly unlikely.
- noirscape 1y ago
  Do keep in mind that the EUs approach is very different from the UK one. The UK law is basically a "go figure it out", which inevitably leads to making shady deals with third parties that are now handling the data of citizens... privacy and data leakage issues abound. The EU meanwhile is working on a whitelabel application that can confirm nothing other than "this user is above 18" (which they can do because the EU has national ID for basically anyone living in it. It also works for another set of age ranges, as the idea is to also use this to confirm stuff like buying alcohol) and is designed to be easy to implement for anyone without having to get approval from the EU first. (Technical specification is available here[0]). It's not perfect (last I saw, they're apparently tying it to Google Play Services for device verification), but it's a far better attempt than the UK/Australia are doing. [0]: https://ageverification.dev https://ageverification.dev

mna_ 1y ago

Just looking at raw population isn't good enough because some countries are more "online" than others and the UK is one of those countries.

Telaneo 1y ago
Are any countries in the EU a lot less online than the rest, to the point that this matters more than a few percentage points? Even grandmas in Eastern Europe have smartphones now, and I don't think the EU has expanded to Sub-Saharan Africa quite yet (unless you want to count Réunion).

visualphoenix 1y ago

It’s not just the UK implementing age verification actively. 5 EU member states [0] are actively participating: Denmark, Greece, Spain, France [1], and Italy. Canada and Australia are jumping in [2] [3]. [0]: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_1820 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_... [1]: https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2024/france/la-loi-sren-securisation-et-regulation-de-l-espace-numerique-en-france https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2024/france/la-loi-sren... [2]:https://facia.ai/news/canada-proposes-age-checks-for-online-adult-content-access/ https://facia.ai/news/canada-proposes-age-checks-for-online-... [3]: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-11/age-verification-search-engines/105516256 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-11/age-verification-sear...

devnullbrain 1y ago
It puts a UK user in a weird situation. On one hand, the more countries that join in (and I've heard of US states too), the more likely it is that age verification becomes well supported and I continue having access to the wider world's internet. On the other hand, we've reached a very thick part of the wedge already: this is terrible for competition and I do not trust any state with this power. The best path is one of calamitous implementation that scares off other countries and embarrasses this one into a u-turn. But it's increasingly unlikely.
noirscape 1y ago
Do keep in mind that the EUs approach is very different from the UK one. The UK law is basically a "go figure it out", which inevitably leads to making shady deals with third parties that are now handling the data of citizens... privacy and data leakage issues abound. The EU meanwhile is working on a whitelabel application that can confirm nothing other than "this user is above 18" (which they can do because the EU has national ID for basically anyone living in it. It also works for another set of age ranges, as the idea is to also use this to confirm stuff like buying alcohol) and is designed to be easy to implement for anyone without having to get approval from the EU first. (Technical specification is available here[0]). It's not perfect (last I saw, they're apparently tying it to Google Play Services for device verification), but it's a far better attempt than the UK/Australia are doing. [0]: https://ageverification.dev https://ageverification.dev