Fortunately, this isn’t necessary in every country. However, this move does bring to mind George Orwell’s 1984.
In response to the UK’s online safety law taking effect, Valve has begun verifying the ages of UK players who wish to access adult content on the platform. Unlike other AI-based age verification methods, Valve takes a simpler approach: it verifies the age of Steam users by asking them to provide their credit card details.
According to the support page explaining the process, this solution was chosen because, in the UK, you must be over 18 to apply for a credit card in your own name. This process also ensures maximum protection of user data. Users began to notice on Friday that this had already taken effect. However, if you are over 18 and have your own credit card registered to your Steam account, you may not have noticed because it no longer affects you.
“In the UK, Ofcom is the independent regulator for online safety. Ofcom’s guidance on the OSA states that credit card checks are a highly effective age assurance measure. This is because an individual must be at least 18 years old to obtain a credit card in the UK. Therefore, credit card issuers must verify the age of applicants before providing them with a credit card. The data processed in the verification process is identical to that of millions of other Steam users who store their payment details for convenience. Therefore, the verification process provides no information about a user’s content preferences to payment providers or other third parties,” Valve wrote.
Valve is one of the companies that has started to implement age verification. Some companies, such as Nexus Mods, are still trying to figure out how they will implement it, but they have confirmed that they will introduce age verification over time. Others, such as Rockstar in relation to Grand Theft Auto Online, have not confirmed that they will implement it; however, it seems likely that they will introduce some form of verification.
So far, these checks have mainly affected users in the United Kingdom and the EU.
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