Politicians promise safety. They roll out age checks for social media. Yet the measures demand something far more sweeping. Everyone must prove who they are online. Mullvad VPN laid out the stakes in stark terms last week. Its analysis frames these rules not as child protection but as the start of government-controlled access across the internet. The company argues big tech already knows users’ ages through its surveillance business model. Forcing identity verification on all users simply hands authorities and corporations new tools to track speech and behavior. Countries have raced ahead. Australia banned social media for those under 16 and began enforcement in late 2025. Indonesia and Brazil followed with similar restrictions this year. Proposals or laws now exist in Denmark, Portugal, Malaysia, France, Spain, Turkey, Germany and Sweden. The European Commission launched an EU age verification app in April 2026. Ursula von der Leyen outlined broader EU-wide restrictions one month later.…