Overview

• YouTube confirmed a limited U.S. trial starting August 13 that uses AI to estimate viewers’ ages based on viewing habits and applies age-appropriate content restrictions.
• Accounts flagged as underage will see privacy warnings, limited recommendations, disabled personalized ads and mandatory identity verification via ID, selfie or credit card.
• Several TikTok creators report feature restrictions and ID/selfie appeals under a newly rolled-out age-verification system, though unnamed ByteDance sources tell Dexerto it relies on moderation tools rather than AI.
• Privacy advocates and digital rights groups warn that AI age-estimation can err by roughly two years and that collecting biometric and payment data for appeals raises breach and anonymity risks.
• A Change.org petition nearing 50,000 signatures and growing creator outcry highlight rising public pushback against opaque age-verification practices on major platforms.