How "Child Safety" Became the Trojan Horse for Surveillance

For the past few years, child safety online has been a concern that’s been voiced more than ever before. And who could possibly object to keeping kids safe, right? It’s not like the internet became any worse a place for them than it has almost always been, but it’s better late than never.

Except, if you take a moment to stop and think about it all, you quickly start to realize that it’s hardly about protecting the children at all. Maybe, just maybe, using this magic phrase is actually just a clever trick that opens doors for mass digital surveillance and online restrictions stretching far beyond what was promised.

Some years ago such an idea would’ve likely seemed closer to a Black Mirror episode or a conspiracy theory. Yet, the more time passes, the more this dystopian future model seems to become reality.

“Child Safety” Above All

It’s been nearly a decade since various governments around the world started talking about implementing age verification laws to protect child safety online. It also has been a few years since those laws first started going into effect despite severe concerns raised by countless privacy advocates.

Today, more and more countries around the world are joining this growing list of “noble crusaders” on a mission to protect kids in the digital spaces. How are they doing that? By requiring every user to hand over pictures of their government IDs, undergo facial recognition scans, or submit to other invasive identity checks just to access basic information.

Sure, the original premise is only about restricting websites and platforms featuring adult content. But how do we define what exactly should be limited, and where do we draw the line?

AI chatbots can fetch you adult content if you ask. Wikipedia is full of various pages, some of which can tell you about the most heinous serial killers, for example. Different forums online are not only for games and memes, but some also focus on helping people quit drugs and stop drinking or smoking, or provide support for victims of things like sexual assault. Even platforms like X feature footage of war and violent protests.

All of this barely even scratches the surface of what could be spun as harmful for minors. So, should we require ID verification for accessing the internet altogether? It’s quite clear that it isn't about protecting just some websites or just certain users. These are universal surveillance systems that fundamentally change how the internet works.

These laws create the kind of internet where there's no privacy-preserving way to verify someone's age. The key flaw that experts warned about from the start is now playing out exactly as predicted: you cannot verify age without collecting massive amounts of personal data that become a ticking time bomb waiting to be breached. And as some examples already showed, sooner or later, it’s inevitable.

Nowhere is Really Safe

This isn't isolated to one country. The UK's Online Safety Act might have been talked about for years now but finally went into effect in August 2025, now requiring users to submit selfies or government IDs to access Reddit communities, war documentation, and even craft beer discussions. To no one’s surprise, VPN usage exploded by 1,800% within days of implementation.

Half of the states in the U.S. have already implemented age verification laws, too, making their citizens verify their age before accessing all kinds of adult content, with many platforms opting to ban access rather than comply with such requirements. Oh, and this is not the end of it either, because there’s a new bill, called the GUARD Act, being considered, which would take it a step further and lock people out of AI chatbots as well.
Australia is also there, having already banned underage users’ access to social media and soon going after search engines, too. And I’m not even talking about China or North Korea, but things are looking quite gloomy in the rest of Asia just as well.

And the EU? It’s not far behind either. France, Germany, and Spain have already implemented similar laws, with several other countries already in the testing phase. But if the Chat Control regulations, which are currently being considered, end up being passed, digital privacy in Europe will become a thing of the past altogether. Scary, isn’t it?

The Grim Reality

ID verification laws protect no one, especially not children. To me, these kinds of restrictions give off a similar vibe as those controlling, overprotective mommies who try to shield their precious babies from anything that’s even remotely negative.

After all, curiosity is the most natural human instinct. It’s how we learn and get to know the world around us. And it’s only natural that there also comes a time when young people start getting interested in stuff like adult content. I’m sure that almost every single one of us who had some kind of access to it and sought it out long before becoming adults. And I’m not talking about iGaming – it’s not like most kids have credit or debit cards to connect there. 

It’s also completely normal for children to eventually start wondering about the rest of our world, too, especially when it’s happening right around the corner. But with such laws, the lawmakers are essentially muting it all. If this actually worked, the kids would grow up disconnected and get much more traumatized when learning it all at once after turning 18.

But come on, it’s so naive to think that children won’t find a way around – they probably are many times more adept at technology than the people passing these laws anyway. Only since gambling is not the only thing they don’t have money for, they often opt for free VPNs, which essentially creates much bigger danger for their digital security than simply accessing those restricted webpages would.

Of course, while this is where it ends for some, the harm of such measures can be much worse for others. For LGBTQ+ youth, it’s more often than not that it’s their parents or guardians they need to be protected from, not supposedly harmful digital content. Online anonymity is often the only thing allowing these young people to access spaces where they can be themselves. But in some places, they’re now trapped behind parental consent requirements.

As for adults, it’s also absurd. They should be able to freely access all that content regardless but are now forced to surrender their privacy to do so. It doesn’t matter if they’re trying to watch some adult videos, seek help regarding their abuse or addictions, or, in some places, simply browse social media.

And it gets even worse when we talk about search engines and message scanning. Not only is that ridiculously invasive, but the systems used for this are machine-learning-based, which means they’re wildly inaccurate, like 80% of the time inaccurate. This is no longer just a nuisance – it can literally ruin lives.

What The Future Holds

Once this kind of surveillance infrastructure exists, it won’t go away. The governments won’t just relinquish such power and control; they’ll want more. Today it’s the age verification laws, but tomorrow, it might be full-on 1984. The same systems can easily be repurposed for anything: tracking, political censorship, free speech restriction, blackmailing – you name it.

If we’re so dead set on protecting children online, we should first revise and clearly define what is harmful content, as well as focus on objectively better methods for it. But it’s quite clear that it never really was about kids. And if it is true, and the people passing these laws don’t care or are not able to research all the options, weighing all the pluses and minuses, then they shouldn’t be making any laws in the first place.

Either way, it’s not too late yet. They’re normalizing surveillance, but the good news is that this is only just the beginning, and we still have time. We might not be able to downright veto these laws, but we can make a stand and make our voices heard. So talk, sign those petitions, go to those protests, and be proactive. It may seem useless at first glance, but power is in the unity of the people.

And hey, if it all fails, at least we’ll use our phones less and start writing letters to each other again. Here’s a silver lining for you.