Tag: digital id

China’s internet ID push signals a new era of digital control

On July 15, China passed new legislation known as the National Network Identity Authentication, also called Internet ID.

Under this new law, Chinese citizens would voluntarily enroll via a government app, submitting their true name and a facial scan, after which they would be issued a unique ID code used for all online accounts. As of May, approximately 6 million individuals had already obtained IDs during the pilot phase.

Based upon the nature of the control the Chinese Communist Party has over media and censorship, it is not surprising the Chinese government desires the ability to track its population during their internet sessions, especially those citizens who would be critical of the current regime or dissidents that are living outside mainland China.

The new Internet ID law expands on an ongoing digital authoritarianism agenda pursued by China in recent years. Already, the Chinese government has demonstrated its growing capacity and willingness to monitor its citizens’ online activities. 

From the widespread usage of internet backbone filtering through the “Great Firewall” to the mandatory real-name registration implemented since 2010, Beijing has increasingly restricted avenues for anonymous speech online. The new ID system is designed to further tighten the government’s grip on cyberspace at an individual level.

This law would enable the Chinese government, enabled by the new digital ID system, to centralize user identities in a government-controlled database, allowing authorities to track which user fronts which online account, even if platforms only see the anonymized token. 

This approach applies nation-state censorship in a more individualized way and introduces the possibility that content may be filtered or platforms blocked for certain users, both within China, where the government manages internet access, and potentially on a broader scale. 

It could allow the Chinese government to use filters and blocking mechanisms within a platform to limit access to certain services associated with a personalized digital ID for specific individuals.

While the legislation claims to be voluntary at launch, many fear that adoption could gradually become mandatory. In China’s regulatory environment, the “voluntary” label has frequently functioned as a transitional stage before compulsory enforcement. 

Authorities have encouraged social media giants, e-commerce platforms and even payment providers to begin integrating the Internet ID into their user authentication flows. If access to essential digital services becomes dependent on possession of this ID, individuals may find their ability to function online is effectively contingent upon submitting their biometric and personal data to the state.

This law is just the next step in China’s desire for digital authoritarianism, enhancing the government’s ability to surveil, monitor, shape and control a population down to the individual citizen level. 

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New York Wants Online Digital ID Rules for Social Media Feeds Under “SAFE For Kids Act”

New York is advancing a set of proposed regulations that would require social media platforms to verify users’ ages before granting access to algorithm-driven feeds or allowing nighttime alerts.

Attorney General Letitia James introduced the draft rules on Monday, tied to the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) For Kids Act, which was signed into law last year by Governor Kathy Hochul.

Presented as part of an effort to reduce mental health harms linked to social media, the law would compel platforms to restrict algorithmic content for anyone under 18 or anyone who hasn’t completed an age verification process, which would mean the introduction of digital ID checks to access online platforms.

In those cases, users would be limited to seeing content in chronological order from accounts they already follow.

Platforms would also be barred from sending notifications between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. to those users.

The rules give companies some flexibility in how they confirm a user’s age, as long as the method is considered effective and designed to protect personal data.

Acceptable alternatives to submitting a government ID include facial analysis that estimates age. Any identifying information collected during verification must be deleted “immediately,” according to the proposal.

For minors to access personalized algorithmic feeds, parental permission would be required.

That too involves a verification step, with the same data-deletion requirements in place once the process is complete.

The SAFE For Kids Act targets platforms where user-generated content is central and where at least 20 percent of time spent involves engagement with feeds tailored to user behavior or device data.

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Bipartisan Lawmakers Propose Federal Digital Identity Agency

A bipartisan push in Congress is calling for the creation of a federal agency to regulate digital identity systems, at a time of growing concerns over the digital ID push.

Representatives Bill Foster of Illinois and Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania are leading the initiative, which would give the new agency broad authority to certify and audit both the software and hardware used to verify identities online.

Current federal guidance, such as that from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, remains optional.

The proposed agency would go further by establishing rules that digital ID systems must follow. It would serve as an independent authority to evaluate whether a technology is secure enough for government or commercial use, particularly as digital ID tools become more widespread.

Foster, a longtime proponent of government involvement in digital identity policy, has previously introduced versions of the Improving Digital Identity Act. That legislation called for the development of consent-based systems to allow people to confirm their identity online without relying on private platforms or vulnerable credentials.

“The next best thing you can do is provide people with at least the ability to prove they are who they say they are and not a deepfake,” he said last year.

But the push for a national digital identity framework raises serious alarms for privacy advocates who warn that such systems could erode the last vestiges of online anonymity.

By tying identity verification directly to state-issued credentials and biometric data, digital ID programs risk creating a surveillance infrastructure where every online interaction, transaction, or login is linked back to a traceable individual.

This fundamentally changes the nature of the internet, replacing pseudonymous participation with state-verified presence.

Privacy protections promised by digital ID proponents often hinge on enforcement by government agencies that have a long history of overreach.

While lawmakers emphasize that these tools will help curb fraud or impersonation, they rarely address how digital identity mandates could chill free speech.

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Welcome To Big Brother’s Digital Prison, Part I: Central Bank Digital Currencies

Globalist leaders are working at full speed to introduce central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). A CBDC is a digital currency that is issued directly by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve in the US, the European Central Bank in the EU’s eurozone, and the Bank of England in the UK.

A CBDC will be the final straw that ensures that every dream of suppression and control that the globalists nurture will come true. Several of those dreams are already a reality, including shutting down dissent and free speech, as in Europe, where people are routinely fined and arrested for saying things their governments do not like. A host of other controlling measures are already in the works, including herding people into “15-minute cities” where it is easier to monitor them, keep tabs on their use of private cars, decide what they can and cannot eat – ideally “ecologically preferable” bugs and lab-grown meat, no beef or cheese — track their “carbon footprints”, determine where and how they can travel, oversee their vaccines and so on.

The Oxford-educated, German economist Richard A. Werner said in an interview last year.

“The push for CBDCs is the final step in a multi-decade program by central planners to increase their power over the people and over countries. This is the ultimate step because the powers of CBDCs are so extraordinary that, I mean, even the worst dictators of past centuries could only have dreamt of having such enormous power over the lives of so many people.

“We are talking about a very dystopian future if we allow central banks to issue central bank digital currencies. You know, even if the original designers and heads of central banks who are launching this are super well-meaning, you know, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, we just know what human nature is like and history is the best guide…

“I think the power would be abused, if not by the original generation of launchers, then by the next generation…. It will be a completely totalitarian system of such frightening proportions, it’s hard to imagine…

“The micromanaging decision [about your spending] will then be automated and… you have no right to appeal the algorithm… You just won’t be able to use your money for certain things and then there is nothing that you can do… That by definition ends freedom….

“Dictators like Stalin and other dictators, they could only have dreamt of, you know, the enormous power that central bank digital currencies give to central planners… We are talking about dystopian digital prisons that will be created through central bank digital currencies, because the programmability – and this has been mentioned in the studies by the central banks – include of course geography, and there is this proposal for climate change, whatever reasons, that people… should stay within their 15-minute walking small local area… and there will be digital controls… when you walk with all your RFID chips in your cards and your CBDC anyway, of course you will be immediately recognized if you’re out of the area and you will be punished. It’s a digital prison.”

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Digital ID: Vietnam to delete 86 MILLION “unverified” bank accounts

tarting this month, banks all across Vietnam will begin deleting over 86,000,000 bank accounts that have not been “verified” under the countries new digital ID scheme.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) are calling it a “system clean-up measure”.

This “clean up” is part of the government’s “digital transformation” plan, a drive to “modernise” the country’s information infrastructure, and more specifically a drive to promote non-cash payments.

Speaking at a press conference promoting “Cashless Day” earlier this year, Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department at the SBV called it “a data-cleansing revolution”.

Central to this “revolution” is the new “Decree on Regulations for Electronic Identification and Authentication”, passed in July of 2024 and coming in to force July 1st of this year.

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Von der Leyen Unveils New EU Censorship Push, Online Digital ID Plans, in 2025 State of the Union Speech

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her 2025 State of the Union speech to unveil a raft of new regulatory measures that introduce new challenges for digital rights and freedom of expression across the continent and the world.

Framed as measures for public health, democracy, and child protection, the Commission is pushing the EU deeper into institutionalized censorship and online regulation.

Addressing the European Parliament, von der Leyen declared she is “appalled by the disinformation that threatens global progress on everything from measles to polio.”

Citing fears of a global health crisis, she introduced a “Global Health Resilience Initiative,” which she said the EU would lead.

This initiative is expected to tie online speech more tightly to global health narratives, laying the groundwork for broader suppression of dissenting views under the label of medical misinformation.

Another centerpiece of her address was the so-called “European Democracy Shield,” a program that we’ve covered in great detail, intended to streamline and centralize the Commission’s censorship machinery under the banner of fighting “foreign information manipulation and interference.”

Framing the internet as a battlefield, she said: “Our democracy is under attack. The rise in information manipulation and disinformation is dividing our societies.”

Expanding on that framework, she announced the creation of a new institution, the European Centre for Democratic Resilience.

According to von der Leyen, this center will allow the EU to scale up its ability “to monitor and detect information manipulation and disinformation.”

But the agenda didn’t stop there. She introduced the Media Resilience Program, which she claimed would support “independent journalism and media literacy.”

In practice, however, such efforts often result in government-approved messaging being amplified, while dissenting outlets don’t get funded.

Von der Leyen pointed to declining local journalism in rural communities and claimed: “This has created many news deserts where disinformation thrives…This is why we will launch a new Media Resilience Program – it will support independent journalism and media literacy.”

Despite the existing Digital Services Act already mandating age verification (and therefore digital ID) online, von der Leyen floated a new, even more restrictive direction for internet access among young people.

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UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood Revives Digital ID Plans

Newly appointed UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has opened the door to the rollout of digital ID systems in the UK, reviving a proposal she has previously supported.

Mahmood’s remarks came during a high-level meeting with allies in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, where migration and security were top of the agenda.

Speaking alongside her counterparts from the US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, she laid out her position.

“Well my long-term personal political view has always been in favor of ID cards. In fact I supported the last Labour government’s introduction of ID cards. The first bill I spoke on in Parliament was the ID cards bill which the then Conservative Lib Dem coalition scrapped. So I have a long-standing position which anybody who’s familiar with my view.”

Her comments arrive just days into her tenure, following a dramatic cabinet reshuffle that has reset key departments, including the Home Office.

With illegal small boat crossings continuing to rise and more than 1,000 people arriving in a single day over the weekend, the pressure on the government to deliver results is intensifying. The total number of arrivals this year has already passed 30,000.

Mahmood emphasized that these plans are not borrowed ideas.

“This is a Labour government with Labour policy and Labour proposals,” she said. She insisted that Labour had been preparing these policy positions well in advance of taking office.

Mahmood added that digital ID is something that she has “always supported.”

Now in a position to influence policy directly, she stopped short of confirming a rollout but said it remains under discussion within government. She offered no clear answer when asked whether every UK citizen would be required to have one.

The stated goal is to reduce illegal employment and weaken incentives that draw people to cross into the UK without authorization. For privacy advocates, however, the return of digital ID proposals raises longstanding concerns about surveillance, data control, and potential misuse.

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Tokenization: Trump Administration Moves To Create Digital ID To Facilitate Digital Dollar And Tokenized Assets In Loss Of Financial Freedom

Following the creation of a digital dollar framework in July, the Trump administration is now creating the tools needed to facilitate those digital dollars, also referred to as stablecoins and tokenized asset deposits, as it seeks to create a nationally approved digital ID system for the U.S. that can safely store Americans’ tokenized ‘money’ and digital assets.

Digital ID is tantamount, according to globalist institutions. In 2023, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published1 a framework for member nations to pattern their digital ID around. According to their blog post2, the plans are “an integral part of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” adding, “SDG Target 16.9, which aims to “provide legal identity for all, including birth registration,” underscores the widespread significance of civil registration in societies globally.”

This framework builds off a report that was published by the UN in May of that year, called “Our Common Agenda,”3 that discussed “the vision for the future,” which involves linking digital IDs to banking. The UN says the implementation of digital IDs will also help to fulfil the broader goal of SDG1, No Poverty.

“Digital IDs linked with bank or mobile money accounts can improve the delivery of social protection coverage and serve to better reach eligible beneficiaries. Digital technologies may help to reduce leakage, errors and costs in the design of social protection programmes.”

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Australia Orders Tech Giants to Enforce Age Verification Digital ID by December 10

Australia is preparing to enforce one of the most invasive online measures in its history under the guise of child safety.

With the introduction of mandatory age verification across social media platforms, privacy advocates are warning that the policy, set to begin December 10, 2025, risks eroding fundamental digital rights for every user, not just those under 16.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has told tech giants like Google, Meta, TikTok, and Snap that they must be ready to detect and shut down accounts held by Australians under the age threshold.

She has made it clear that platforms are expected to implement broad “age assurance” systems across their services, and that “self-declaration of age will not, on its own, be enough to constitute reasonable steps.”

The new rules stem from the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, which gives the government sweeping new authority to dictate how users verify their age before accessing digital services. Any platform that doesn’t comply could be fined up to $31M USD.

While the government claims the law isn’t a ban on social media for children under 16, in practice, it forces platforms to block these users unless they can pass age checks, which means a digital ID.

There will be no penalties for children or their parents, but platforms face immense legal and financial pressure to enforce restrictions, pressure that almost inevitably leads to surveillance-based systems.

The Commissioner said companies must “detect and de-activate these accounts from 10 December, and provide account holders with appropriate information and support before then.”

These expectations extend to providing “clear, age-appropriate communications” and making sure users can download their data and find emotional or mental health resources when their accounts are terminated.

She further stated that “efficacy will require layered safety measures, sometimes known as a ‘waterfall approach’,” a term often associated with collecting increasing amounts of personal data at multiple steps of user interaction.

Such layered systems often rely on facial scanning, government ID uploads, biometric estimation, or AI-powered surveillance tools to estimate age.

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Age Verification Company Exposes User Data, Reinforcing Privacy Fears Over Digital ID Systems

A company tasked with confirming users’ ages before they access adult content may be compromising their privacy by leaking detailed browsing data, according to a report by the nonprofit AI Forensics.

The group’s investigation highlights serious flaws in how some sites are complying with growing online age-check requirements, raising new concerns about surveillance and data exposure under the guise of protecting children.

France’s law requires that users’ identities remain concealed, not just from adult websites, but from the age verification services themselves.

Known as “double anonymity,” this standard is meant to ensure that those performing the verification process have no knowledge of which websites users are visiting or what content they attempt to access.

But AI Forensics found that AgeGO, one of the verification systems in active use, doesn’t meet those expectations.

Instead, AgeGO’s system reportedly transmits precise details about the user’s activity, including the URL of the video being viewed and the name of the website.

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