Age Verification Mandates Persist in KOSA and Chat Control Despite Rollbacks

Two major online safety proposals, KOSA and Chat Control, scaled back their most controversial provisions this week but retained mandatory age verification requirements. Billions CEO Evin McMullen argues that age verification effectively ends anonymous browsing by requiring users to identify themselves online. Critics contend this quiet mechanism amounts to a form of surveillance that was never explicitly approved by the public. McMullen's concern is that such requirements create infrastructure that converts anonymous internet use into identified browsing for all users, not just minors.