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A whopping 68 million Xbox gamers are expected to be impacted by the controversial new age verification laws.
This comes after new laws were put in place in the UK that will mean users will need to confirm their age before accessing adult content.
The rule came into effect on Friday (July 25), with certain sites including PornHub, Reddit and X, formerly Twitter being affected.
And it looks like it won’t stop there because Xbox is now rolling out new procedures in order for its UK players to verify their identity.
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The move was announced by Microsoft on Monday (July 28) and seems to be due to the introduction of the new Online Safety Act.
In a statement posted on its website, Xbox said: “At Xbox, we’re committed to providing players with a safe and secure experience on our platform. Since launching our first ever gaming console that could connect players online in 2005, we’ve continued to invest in state-of-the-art tools and technologies to protect the Xbox community.
“Over more than two decades of experience, we’ve developed a multifaceted safety, privacy, and security approach that features built-in safety measures, respects player privacy, and empowers players, parents, and caregivers to have control over their gaming experiences.”
The gaming company went on to explain that it would be introducing age verification from early next year for its players in the UK in order for them to retain ‘full access to social features on Xbox, such as voice or text communication and game invites’.
Xbox continued: “Players who don’t verify their age between now and early 2026 can continue to play and enjoy Xbox. However, starting early next year, their use of social features on Xbox will become limited to friends only until they complete the age verification process.
“Whether a player verifies their age will not affect any previous purchases, entitlements, gameplay history, achievements, or the ability to play and purchase games, however we encourage players to verify their age via this one-time process now to ensure uninterrupted use of social features on Xbox in the future.”
The news of the rule has had a mixed reaction on social media, with many people sharing their own thoughts on the matter.
On Reddit, one user wrote: “This act has nothing to do with protecting children, and everything to do with farming data to train AI models how to detect identification documents.”
Another said: “The government should have started their own VPN company or set out a special tax on them since they knew what the effect would be. Coulda raised a ton of cash!”
And a third person added: “So I tested this with discord age verification. You can use stock DVLA photos and bypass this. Only tested it for discord so far.”
