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Spotify has enabled age verification checks for millions of users, and if you fail the test, your account could be gone forever.
To keep streaming your favourite tracks and podcasts, users in the UK must now confirm their age or risk being booted off. According to Spotify's support page, users who submit details to confirm their age and are found to be under 18, the account "will be deactivated and eventually deleted."
Spotify's age checks are live in the UK, Europe, and the US. It comes at a time of increased sensitivity around online content.
In the UK, the newly introduced Online Safety Act is designed to protect children from accessing inappropriate or explicit material on the internet. UK telecom regulator Ofcom is responsible for checking that websites and apps are enforcing the new rules, which require visitors to prove their age with a passport scan, credit card, and a host of other strict methods.
Any firms that fail to comply with the Online Safety Act could face a large fine or even be banned from the UK altogether.
Spotify in the UK restricts some music behind facial verification and ID.
— Pirat_Nation 🔴 (@Pirat_Nation) July 30, 2025
"Age verification is required for certain content. Use our facial age check; if inaccurate, verify with ID." pic.twitter.com/a1bLwFCZBV
Naturally, platforms like Reddit, X (formerly Twitter), Discord, Bluesky, and Grindr have already implemented these strict new age checks. You can choose to confirm your age by sharing a selfie and a snapshot of your ID, for example.
Yoti, an age verification software, has partnered with Spotify to complete these age checks.
"Spotify fans can access and enjoy a broad array of features and content, whilst young people will be better protected from the risk of accessing inappropriate experiences," said Robin Tombs, CEO at Yoti.
"We're excited to be working closely with the Spotify team on this innovative partnership - enhancing trust and safety for users around the world."
Want to keep streaming everything that's included in the Spotify catalogue? You'll need to follow the steps to prove that you're over 18 using the Yoti checks built into the streaming service.
There are users, however, who are able to bypass the age checks with the use of a virtual private network (VPN), and the new law has caused a spike in downloads across the UK.
When you connect to a VPN, everything you do online is rerouted via the provider's servers. If you choose a VPN server in the same country, this serves as a way to encrypt and mask everything you do online, including the websites you visit, the amount of time spent on each service, and much more.
If you choose a server based in another country, VPNs can make it appear as if you're located outside of the UK — outside of the jurisdiction of the Online Safety Act.
However, experts warn that some VPNs can also carry similar security and privacy risks, especially those offering all of the benefits of the service for free. Since there's no clear way to pay for the server costs, app development, and all of the other associated costs, it's likely the service is monetising data on your traffic or other means.
"Many of these free VPNs are riddled with issues," Daniel Card, a cybersecurity expert with BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, told the BBC.
"Some act as traffic brokers for data harvesting firms, others are so poorly built they expose users to attacks."
However, with the popularity of apps like Spotify, the demand for VPNs has only risen. For their part, Virtual Private Networks have moved to capitalise on the renewed interest in these apps with a flurry of offers, including a £50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card from NordVPN and three months of free access from rival Surfshark.
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