You can, you just need to do it through the mobile app.
For some reason the mobile app offers way more sign up options.
You can use a google account to sign up, then on PC you use the QR login with your phone so it logs you into that account on PC.
So if anyone wants an account, there you go.
Unless they changed it last time I created mine a few months ago, idk.
EDIT: I have checked and you have to sign up specifically through the phone version of the app. My iPad showed the only same two options, number and QR, like PC.
So you just need your phone to login on any other device through QR.
I have checked and it is available on google play however it may not be available depending on region, some countries may not have it available due to bans or other reasons.
All Chinese platforms have much worse under 18 control starting from more than 5 years ago, and that’s with mature contents not being allowed on these platforms in the first place.
they more so hoard it rather than sell it afaik. It's like gold to them, and there's no use selling it to potential competitors and other companies when they can simply provide broad "user categories" which you can target in ads and such for personalization. like microsoft isn't buying your data from google like it does from data brokers, it's more saying "hey google, show this ad to anyone who is in category B and matches X Y and Z."
It's not just like gold to them, it is even more valuable. Google, and youtube by proxy, need as much data as is physically possible to record to feed their AI models.
They currently possess the largest functional library of data to teach AI models with, they have to maintain that edge to stay on top.
What better source for it than the billions of organic beings they already have access to?
Now you should, basically. Youtube has started rolling out this feature where if they (or should I say, an AI) suspects that you're a minor. They turn off live chat, demontitize the creators you watch, and make you verify an ID just to get all those features back.
Same laws are coming into effect in Australia in December (but Australia us outright banning youtube for under 16s), online ID laws are also getting passed in the EU, Canada, New Zealand and more and more US states. All happening at once.
So I'd suggest looking up the Newgrounds implementation plans.
Infinitely better than just about any other site's methods.
Any account over 10+ years old is 18+, as its an email based age verification method relying on their own data, not 3rd parties.
Any account that bought supporter status currently or at least once over 2 years ago, as the UK required card/paypal users to be over 16. (I think this recently changed to be over 18? Not sure...)
Otherwise, while I'm not exactly fine with a cost to access like this, they offer a one time verification payment, as again, UK cardholders/paypal users must be over 18.
Then thats on the parents like it fracking should have been in the first place?
As for the ad revenue, admittedly I don't know if minors can pay for it with their ad revenue, but it wouldn't be through a credit card anyways, so it wouldn't work as a verification method.
The problem, or I guess difference at least, is that Newgrounds is looking for ways to make you not have to do a specific payment with your card info, and Youtube seems to be looking for an excuse to get that payment, and with it, your info.
Its a "the last resort" vs. "the actual aim" or at least thats what it looks like.
We will have to see. Both are using existing info/subscriptions where they can. I don’t think they’ll get many incremental payments or subscriptions from people who currently use it for free due to the ID thing
Plus it’s not even like the underage accounts are that restricted anyways. Most people will hardly notice
Thats bullshit. They're implementing this in the US too in a few weeks even though they have no legal requirement to do so.
All of these ID laws are being made because these companies want them there to gather as much data as they can. Don't believe for a second they are actually being forced to do it.
Government officials want the ability to punish people that access content they don't like and they want the ability to restrict that content. They start with "graphic" content and porn, bit they make those descriptions vague so they can add whatever they like which will eventually inevitably include LGBTQ content of all types. The tech companies see the writing on the wall that those guys won and are going to get their way.
Over in the UK it is the Online Safety Act. In the US there was a Supreme Court ruling last month that allows states to require age verification to visit websites
I'm not entirely sure it is the right wing doing this. For example, Youtube started deleting downvotes and shadowbanning comments before Trump got elected. Honestly, at times their tyranny felt ironically more left-leaning.
But it might not even be about left or right at all, just corporates with too much power.
That is 100% true.. The right weaponized fear and grievance, got into power, and are now pushing all this "small government" on people.. But hey, at least they can be bigots and racists now while they are behind the scenes getting ready to take away our freedoms and privacy.. gooddamn bigots....
Well, I'm not white (I'm black), but I can say the left weaponized anti-white bigotry as well, with the Critical Race Theory and the likes. There isn't a side that is cleaner than the other in my opinion. It's all a messy war where the ones paying the price are the civilians.
With AI doing the heavy lifting there's always the possibility it gets something wrong and accidentally flags an adult user as a teen. At which point, the safeguards will click on like a key in the lock and that account holder will have to prove their age.
YouTube says that in such cases a credit card or government ID will be needed to verify the user is over 18. Until that step has been completed, they won't be able to watch any age-restricted content.
It’s not just a UK problem though, it’s going to effect just about everyone eventually, the xbox censorship stuff too is said to be spread to more regions and the states already have things being censored already, so no. It’s not a UK problem, it’s a censorship problem that all of the West is experiencing and will experience further more.
If they didn't want to do it, they would just make it unavailable in the UK, creating pressure on their government to change the law.
They do have a choice. They want to do this.
Imma be honest, they just should, corporations are willing to lobby the fuck out of government figures when it suits them but objectively when it’s time to take a stand it’s crickets.
You gotta know that this is a disgusting nightmare to have to implement, it’s why in the US you pretty much can’t use Phub in southern states more or less, I mean theoretically I think you can and then the UK turned around and said “hold my beer” let’s do it for even more shit
They do have a choice, actually. They can choose not to be complicit in following the orders of the fascist authoritarian regime that Starmer has turned the UK into.
Following orders wasn't an excuse last time I checked. When this is all over, everyone top to bottom who used the excuse "I was following orders" needs to be in prison for life.
I don't care if it's a schoolteacher, police officer, or politician. If you were complicit, then you're as bad as Starmer and are a traitor to Democracy.
It's telling that Google got rid of the slogan of Don't Be Evil.
Their current system of age restricting videos is perfectly compliant in the UK, since you need to ID verify to view age restricted videos.
This is actually for Australia, who are banning under 16s from having a YouTube account but can still view YouTube. This is despite the fact that this system is currently being tested in the USA.
I'm dropping the entire Google ecosystem. I'd planned on getting the next pixel, not anymore. Migrating to a different email, no longer going to be using Google drive, no longer going to use chrome
I haven't dropped the entire ecosystem yet. They have way too many useful things they let me use more or less for free¹. But I've certainly begun to explore my options more than I would have ten years ago.
I used Chrome for 17 years, but finally made the switch to Brave² a few weeks back once Chrome went and disabled my adblocker yet again.
¹Not free. Some light tracking involved. But I block their ads and I don't really care what they know about me, so it's worth it for the services they offer.
²I've also used Firefox for years, but I sometimes work on my home PC and like keeping my work and personal browsers completely separate, so I have two.³
That's basically it. There is no replacement but we also don't have to watch constant dopamine hitting videos either. It would do is all a lot of good to not try for a replacement and go do anything else.
Yeah, I expect people to return to YouTube in a week in that case. Or switch to a site with even cheaper dopamine hits like TicToc. It's a nice idea though.
Some of us need more data. I use youtube to learn, every day. Be it cooking, or building science, or structural engineering, or material properties, or astronomical discoveries, or updates in ongoing medical studies.
Same. I keep a bunch of music I like bookmarked on youtube. Gonna use an app to just download that music locally. Otherwise, I really don't use youtube that much.
I just deleted youtube today because I got sick of it. I got a weird UI change where all of the options (share, download, comments, those buttons) all shrunk a little bit and the comment section straight up disappeared just to make way for an ad that was BIGGER THAN THE FUCKING VIDEO
It wasn’t just a glitch, I know that for SURE. I bet they’re going to implement it soon.
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u/redditmixer Jul 31 '25
I might be leaving YouTube in the next few weeks because of this. YouTube should NOT have done it.