- Mandatory age verification lands in Missouri on November 30, 2025
- All websites containing 33% of "material harmful to minors" need to comply
- Missouri is the latest US state to enforce age verification rules
As of November 30, 2025, people in Missouri now need to prove they are over 18 years old to access adult-only content online.
Missouri is the latest of the US states to enact its form of age verification law. It's set to further fuel discussion around data privacy and security risks linked to age assurance methods, and has already provoked yet another surge in usage of the best VPN apps.
The search for VPNs has already jumped by 4 times the previous average, with internet searches for both the terms 'VPN' and 'free VPN' soaring since November 29, according to Google Trends data.
Yet, as the Centre for Democracy and Technology's Travis Hall said to St. Louis Public Radio's news site, "Not everybody knows how to use VPN systems that usually cost money to access."
Under the new rules, all websites or applications containing more than one-third "material harmful to minors" are required to verify their users are adults before granting them access. A provision that experts talking with TechRadar have criticized for its "vague" terms, which could push the platform to over-censor their content.
Experts' concerns appear well-founded. A day after the rules came into force, there have already been reports that the new rules are age-gating way more than adult sites. Plus, Aylo – the parent company of many of the biggest adult sites – has decided to outrightly block access to everyone in Missouri instead of jeopardizing their users' privacy.
Violations of the rule are considered "an unfair, deceptive, fraudulent, or otherwise unlawful practice" under Missouri law, with online services facing up to $10,000 a day for non-compliance.
Instead, these adult online sites and services can perform age verification checks using digital ID, other government-issued identification documents, or other transactional data.
Crucially, mobile operating systems with at least 10 million devices in the US must provide digital age-verification "that a website or application can use to comply with" the rules.
How Missouri age verification could impact on your privacy
The Missouri law requires website and app providers to use all reasonable methods to secure user data, alongside an obligation not to retain any identifying information unless otherwise required by law enforcement. Yet, experts do not believe that these safeguards can be a real guarantee against data abuse or leaks.
"By forcing everyone to hand over their most valuable and sensitive identity data, the law builds out a dangerous new surveillance infrastructure instead of actually keeping young people safe," activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Molly Buckley, told TechRadar.
After all, in the UK, we saw first-hand how easy it was for sensitive age verification information to get compromised when Discord's third-party service got hacked, leaking over 70,000 government ID photos used for verifying user age.
According to Senior Policy and Advocacy Expert at the Internet Society, John Perrino, the Missouri law is mostly a "copy-paste version" of the main provisions included in similar legislation elsewhere in the country. This means that the same risks for greater surveillance, censorship, and accessibility apply.
The novelty here is that the likes of Google and Apple will need to provide a secure digital ID tool that websites could use for age verification. The problem? Big Tech giants are not exactly ready for that, with these Digital ID functions still confined to driver's licenses and airport passport checks.
"Even if this is the most secure thing on your phone, will people feel comfortable storing and sharing their driver's license or passport to access restricted apps and websites? Even the mere perception of a privacy intrusion drives people to less safe corners of the Internet," Perrino told TechRadar.
If you are among the people worried about the prospect of compromising your ID confidentiality, you may want to look into getting a VPN yourself. If you are new to this world, though, be careful not to download insecure applications that could put your data even more at risk.
From a quick search on "Missouri VPN," we could find many names we have never heard of in the top results. While these may not be all necessarily harmful, keep in mind that official app stores are filled with dodgy VPN apps – especially freebies.
While there are only a handful of free VPNs we recommend using, all of them come with some limitations. The good news is that now is the best time to secure your digital life with a reliable solution. Most VPN providers have already dropped their pricing with Black Friday VPN deals, including TechRadar's top-rated service, NordVPN. Here's all you need to know:
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone using a VPN service to break the law or conduct illegal activities. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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