On January 28, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission hosted a virtual public workshop examining age-verification technologies and their role in protecting children and teens online. The workshop brought together representatives from government, industry, academia, and consumer advocacy organizations to discuss the importance of age verification, the practical realities of implementation, and the legal and policy considerations surrounding these tools. FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson kicked off the discussion by highlighting the FTC’s efforts to protect kids online, including its settlement with toy maker, Apitor, and the ongoing litigation against the messaging platform, Sendit. He also highlighted the agency’s $10 million order against Disney, which eliminates certain injunctive obligations if age verification technologies are utilized. Chairman Ferguson also made clear that while the agency will continue to prioritize COPPA enforcement in 2026, it does not intend to stifle innovation in the age verification space.

Panelists discussed the unique character of online platforms, noting that kids cannot waltz into a liquor store and buy alcohol, but can easily access inappropriate content online. The conversation centered around the need for age verification technologies to protect kids while balancing adults’ rights to access certain content without sacrificing privacy. Most panelists agreed that kid-proofing the entire Internet would result in over-restriction, but acknowledged that restricting kids’ access to certain categories of content (e.g., social media, pornography) is important. The workshop highlighted different methods to verify age, including scanning government-issued IDs, providing work email addresses that kids wouldn’t have, facial scanning and examining online behavior to estimate age, and the issuance of reusable tokens. Because many of these tools require the collection of personal data, the need for data minimization and deletion was emphasized.   

The workshop also highlighted some of the challenges presented by age verification technologies. As noted above, many age verification tools require the collection of personal information. Will collection such information from kids without parental consent violate COPPA? After verification, what happens to the data? Who in the ecosystem (e.g., app developer, app owner, website owner, platform operator) should be responsible for verifying age? What should be the threshold for accuracy? Will kids be able to game the system and circumvent these tools? The workshop wasn’t intended to produce answers to all these questions, but rather, to highlight issues that should be front of mind as more tools are developed and companies contemplate their use.