The year age verification laws came for the open internet

When the nonprofit Freedom House recently published its annual report, it noted that 2025 marked the 15th straight year of decline for global internet freedom. The biggest decline, after Georgia and G [...]

Roblox introduces mandatory age-gated account tiers

Roblox is preparing to roll out its biggest change since starting age verification late last year. While that program was initially focused on chat access, today’s news is about age-segregating the [...]

Apple's iOS 26 requires kids to get parental permission to text new numbers

As part of new updates to its parental controls announced at WWDC 25, Apple has introduced a new feature that requires kids to get permission to text new numbers. That's among other new child saf [...]

Samsung's Galaxy Watch for Kids software makes Wear OS a family affair

Samsung and Google are introducing a new Wear OS software experience called "Galaxy Watch for Kids" that's designed to make the Galaxy Watch 7 LTE (and presumably future wearables) safe [...]

Microsoft plans to bring Xbox age verification to countries outside of the UK

Microsoft is implementing an age verification system on Xbox accounts to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act, and in a new blog post announcing the move, the company suggests it'll come t [...]

Roblox is adding an 'age estimation' feature for teens

Roblox is joining the growing ranks of online platforms that are trying to better understand the ages of their teen users. The company is rolling out a new "age estimation" feature for teens [...]

Cyber Monday deals under $50 that you can still shop today: Apple AirTags, Legos, Ugreen chargers, Roku sticks and more

Cyber Monday has ended; The deals party is over. But like any party, there are still a few stragglers not ready to go home just yet. This list once housed over 75 stellar Black Friday deals under $50 [...]

California enacts age-gate law for app stores

California has become the latest state to age-gate app stores and operating systems. AB 1043 is one of several internet regulation bills that Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law on Monday, including [...]

Roblox begins asking tens of millions of children to verify their age with a selfie

Roblox is starting to roll out the mandatory age checks that will require all of its users to submit an ID or scan their face in order to access the platform's chat features. The updated policy, [...]