The IAB/W3C Workshop on Age-Based Restrictions on Content Access, held in London on 7-9 October 2025, examined the technical and architectural implications of implementing age-based restrictions on online content access.
The young are often unprepared for the kinds of things they may encounter online. Maturity, education, and the guidance of responsible adults can help children navigate online interactions, but age has often been regarded as the best indicator of how able a person is to cope with exposure to content.
There had been increasing interest in implementing regulations that restrict the types of content young people can access online. A recurring theme in these efforts was that it was no longer considered sufficient to rely on self-assertions of age. A number of jurisdictions had enacted, or were in the process of enacting, laws aimed at providing stronger guarantees that children would not be exposed to certain content.
The workshop carried out a thorough examination of the technical and architectural choices involved in solutions for age-based restrictions on content access, with the primary goal to build a shared understanding of the properties of various proposed approaches.
In general, access restrictions are achieved through selective blocking or filtering. RFC 7754 (Technical Considerations for Internet Service Blocking and Filtering) provides a broader framework for understanding restrictions on communications, and this workshop builds upon that foundation. In particular, it examined the specific technical considerations that arise when content is legally accessible to some individuals but restricted for others based primarily on age.
The papers presented at the workshop are available from the workshop web page.
More information:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/agews
