- The UK implemented a new age verification system as part of its Online Safety Act to protect underage kids.
- However, Gamers soon found a loophole in the newly established age verification system.
- Players captured expressive close-up selfies of Sam Porter from the Death Stranding game and used them to bypass the system.
The UK recently introduced a new age verification system as a part of its newly established Online Safety Act. So, now everyone in the UK would need to complete a Face Scan in order to access age-restricted platforms such as Discord, Reddit, Dating apps, etc. As expected, many people didn’t accept the new age verification system as it poses a privacy risk with their facial images. Thus, it didn’t take long for people to find a workaround as gamers began to exploit Death Stranding characters’ realism to trick and bypass the UK’s age verification system.
Yes! You read that right, as UK gamers have already begun to override the age verification process by utilizing the pictures of Sam Porter (played by Norman Reedus) from Death Stranding. Death Stranding (2019) was way ahead of its time, as the game boasted expressive, life-like characters, made possible with the new age facial scanning and motion capture technology.
With the Death Stranding game’s photo mode, players took custom selfies to recreate the poses needed by the age verification system. An X user noted that he clicked a close-up picture of Sam opening his mouth and used it to bypass the age verification system to access age-restricted channels on Discord.
After this exploit went viral on social platforms, everyone started to follow the same technique to bypass the new age verification system. While this technique exposed the biggest loophole in the UK’s new age verification system, it also made us appreciate the remarkable level of detail and realism Kojima’s game delivered in 2019.
We don’t encourage the act of bypassing the Online Safety Act. It is a much-needed system to prevent underage people from getting exposed to inappropriate content. However, it is worth noting that games have become so realistic that it is more than enough to trick the age verification system. We don’t have any official statements from the UK government or the various platforms regarding this grand exploit of Death Stranding’s realism at the time of writing.
Having said that, what do you think about every UK citizen turning into Sam Porter to trick the age verification system? Let us know in the comments below.
