#TBOT 18: U.S. Age Verification, Apple's Digital ID, Cloudflare Takes Down The Internet

About this episode

This episode discusses U.S. age verification laws, a significant Cloudflare outage, and Apple's new Digital ID system.

Here are this week’s stories: U.S. Age Verification Laws – The Facts: States like Texas, Utah, Louisiana, and Mississippi are rolling out sweeping age-verification mandates for websites and app stores. These laws could reshape how people access software and online content—and they raise major questions about privacy, liability, and the path toward Digital ID. Check out the full story for a clear breakdown of what’s coming. Cloudflare Outage Shakes the Internet: Cloudflare suffered its worst outage since 2019, taking nearly 20% of the internet down for hours. Canva, Uber, Spotify, X, and thousands more went dark instantly. We look at what caused the collapse, what it reveals about centralized infrastructure, and an open-source alternative that protects sites without handing the keys to a single company. Apple’s First U.S. Digital ID: Apple quietly launched a new Digital ID system inside its Wallet app—complete with biometric “verification,” NFC passport scanning, and face-movement checks. It’s already accepted at 250 airports. This is the first mainstream Digital ID in the U.S., and Apple plans to expand it to in-person age verification next. Share this post with your crew! 🪄 We…

People in this episode

Host: Hakeem Anwar

Topics covered

• age verification
• digital identity
• internet outage
• privacy
• centralized infrastructure
• biometric verification

Keywords

• age verification
• Cloudflare outage
• Apple Digital ID
• privacy laws
• biometric verification
• internet infrastructure
• NFC passport scanning

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cloudflare, Apple, Canva, Uber, Spotify

Products: Digital ID, Wallet app

Places: U.S., Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Mississippi

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• ⚠️ What to do if cell service requires digital ID — FOSS War Room · April 13, 2026 · 2 min
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• #TBOT 22: Age Verification Computers, War & AI, Data Centers Drained by AI, GrapheneOS & Motorola · March 9, 2026 · 26 min
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