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If you thought age verification laws would end at porn, you’d be wrong. Next, they came for gaming, and now the anti-porn haters are focusing on social media.
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has formally implemented age assurance policies in response to mounting regulatory pressure from the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. The platform, owned by Elon Musk, is now conducting age checks for users attempting to access adult content, including pornography, as part of its compliance with regional online safety laws.
The move comes days after Irish media regulator Coimisiún na Meán warned that it had seen “no evidence” that X was aligning with the Irish Online Safety Code, which went into effect last week. That code mandates that video-sharing platforms must have “effective age assurance” measures in place to restrict minors from accessing inappropriate content.
In an official statement published on its help center, X confirmed that it is rolling out a multi-tiered age verification system that combines existing user data with new estimation methods. These changes are designed to satisfy obligations under the Irish Online Safety Code, the UK’s Online Safety Act, and the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
“Where X is legally required to do so, we take a multi-step age assurance approach to verify or estimate whether users are 18 or under,” the company stated.
Rather than rely on third-party age verification vendors, X is opting for internal mechanisms. These include what it calls “highly reliable signals,” such as:
When such signals are unavailable, X will default to data analysis methods. This includes estimating age using user email domains and a process called “reverse address book median age estimation,” which analyzes the ages of a user’s social connections.
Critics argue that these methods may fall short of the regulatory bar for accuracy. Neither gold verification badges nor account age guarantees that a user is legally an adult. Despite that, X says it will soon introduce more definitive verification options:
These options are not yet operational but are expected “in the coming weeks,” according to the company. Until then, users who cannot be confidently determined to be 18 or older may be locked out of sensitive media by default. Users flagged incorrectly can appeal the decision through X’s support system.
Ireland’s Coimisiún na Meán has acknowledged receiving X’s updated documentation and will assess the adequacy of its measures as part of ongoing supervision. Under the Irish Online Safety Code, noncompliance can result in fines of up to €20 million or 10% of a company’s annual global turnover, whichever is greater.
The United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act similarly mandates age-checking mechanisms for platforms hosting adult content, and the European Commission’s Digital Services Act now requires “strict” age verification across all EU member states.
The move by X underscores the complex balance between child protection and user privacy. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) responded to the new measures by emphasizing that age assurance must be “risk-based,” “least intrusive,” and “proportionate.”
“Any personal data processed for verifying age for a specific use case must be necessary and proportionate,” the DPC stated.
X has pledged to update its privacy and data handling policies to reflect the changes. All third-party providers used in the process will be bound by EU-aligned data protection rules, according to the company.
Despite these promises, critics say the current approach appears half-hearted. Social media analysts argue that many of X’s “highly reliable signals” are, in fact, outdated or easily manipulated. For example, gold checkmarks can be purchased, and early account creation does not necessarily reflect the age of the current user.
There is growing concern that X is attempting to show minimal compliance to avoid penalties, without meaningfully enforcing robust age barriers.
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