Age Verification Laws Threaten Internet Anonymity and Self-Creation

Michelle Santiago Cortés argues that recent age verification laws, such as the UK's Online Safety Act and a US Supreme Court decision, undermine the foundational promise of the internet: the ability to reinvent oneself. She traces the shift from early online anonymity—celebrated in Legacy Russell's 'Glitch Feminism'—to today's demand for verified, singular identities. Cortés notes that platforms like Facebook and X/Twitter incentivize real-name profiles, while age verification creates surveillance risks and data honeypots. She contrasts this with the vibrant, anonymous subcultures of fan fiction, meme accounts, and finstas, and invokes John Perry Barlow's 'Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace' to argue for maintaining spaces for self-creation. The piece critiques the conflation of identity verification with safety, warning that it empowers platforms and governments at the expense of user autonomy.