UK Spotify Users Forced to Submit Facial Scans or Lose Access to Adult Content

Since July 2025, UK Spotify users have been greeted with an unexpected surprise: the app wants to scan their face. Welcome to the brave new world of the UK Online Safety Act, where listening to explicit rap songs now requires biometric verification. Because nothing says “protecting children” quite like collecting everyone’s facial data.

Face scans for explicit songs: UK’s dystopian answer to child safety concerns

The law demands age verification for platforms hosting adult content. Spotify jumped right in, partnering with Yoti’s facial recognition tech. Here’s how it works: snap a selfie, let the algorithm guess your age. If the robot can’t figure out you’re old enough, better dig out that passport. They promise to delete your face scan afterward. Sure they will.

Miss the deadline? Your account gets nuked. Spotify gives you 90 days to prove you’re not a child, then it’s game over. Seven days to verify once you try reactivating, or kiss your carefully curated playlists goodbye. The minimum age is 13, which seems reasonable until you realize adults are getting locked out too.

The internet is, predictably, losing its mind. Privacy advocates are screaming about biometric data collection. Regular users are furious about random age checks popping up mid-playlist. Some are threatening to dust off their pirate hats and sail back to the high seas of torrenting. Can’t really blame them.

This isn’t just about explicit lyrics anymore. We’re talking mature podcasts, adult-oriented music videos, the works. Spotify’s been battling questionable content for years – remember those pornographic podcasts that somehow slipped through? Now they’re tightening the screws on everything. The mature content restrictions apply to any 18+ music videos and podcasts discussing sensitive themes.

The twist? Spotify isn’t alone. Reddit, Xbox, Discord – they’re all falling in line. Even Bluesky has started implementing age verification requirements to comply with the regulations. The UK government effectively forced Big Tech‘s hand, and facial scans are apparently the solution they settled on. Because asking users to tick a box saying they’re 18 was just too simple.

Whether this actually protects kids or just annoys adults remains to be seen. One thing’s certain: UK Spotify users now face a choice. Submit to the face scan, or lose access to anything remotely adult. Welcome to 2025, where your face is the price of admission.