Move over, birthday cake candles! TikTok is introducing a whole new way to check your age that doesn’t involve awkward questions about your first crush. Brace yourselves, European users: the app is rolling out a fresh wave of age detection technologies that utilize a hot mix of profile information, activity, and even your online behavior to play detective on whether you’re above or below 13. Because, you know, nothing screams ‘fun’ like a government-mandated age assessment!
This move comes in light of mounting pressure to create safer spaces in our beloved online hangouts—as if an app with endless dance challenges and lip sync battles needed to add a parental advisory sticker. Google/YouTube jumped on the age-check bandwagon last year, and it looks like TikTok is ready to turn this into a full-blown party. But let’s be real: are we going to end up needing our ID just to keep up with the latest viral TikTok trend?
As we watch these tech giants pull out their magnifying glasses, it begs the question: how far will we go to regulate the internet? Let’s chat about the balance between safety and an authentic online experience—isn’t an unmonitored web what we used to dream about while waiting for our dial-up connection to finally kick in?
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