FTC Makes It Easier For Online Services To Use Age Verification Technologies

On February 25, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a policy statement that it hopes will incentivize the use of age verification technologies. According to the policy statement, the FTC will not bring Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) enforcement actions against general audience or mixed audience sites that collect, use or disclose personal information for the sole purpose of determining a user's age via age verification technologies.

As discussed during the FTC's recent workshop on age verification technologies, some age verification technologies may require the collection of personal information from children—which arguably could violate COPPA. 

To avoid enforcement actions, the online service must do the following: