Steam users in the United Kingdom are now required to verify their age with a credit card, even if their accounts are decades old. The change comes in response to the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA), which mandates stricter measures to prevent minors from accessing adult or harmful online content.
According to Valve, Ofcom guidance under the OSA considers credit card checks one of the most reliable forms of age assurance, since only adults over 18 can obtain a credit card in the UK.
How the process works
To comply, UK users must:
- Log in to their Steam account.
- Go to Account Details and select Add a Payment Method.
- Enter credit card details, including card type, number, CVV, expiry date, and billing address.
- Complete a £0 authorization, which may trigger a security challenge (such as a one-time password or banking app approval).
- Once verified, users will be able to access previously restricted mature content settings in their Store Preferences.
What is the Online Safety Act?
The Online Safety Act, passed by Parliament in 2023, seeks to regulate online platforms and reduce exposure of minors to harmful material. Although it passed two years ago, enforcement has only recently begun, leading to significant pushback from digital rights advocates and industry figures.
Critics argue that while protecting children online is important, the law’s broad enforcement shifts responsibility from parents to tech companies and risks enabling unnecessary censorship or government overreach.
Valve is not the first gaming platform to enforce age verification under the OSA—Xbox, PlayStation, and Discord have also introduced compliance measures. However, Steam stands out as the only major platform requiring credit card verification specifically.
The new rules have already fueled increased interest in VPN services among UK users looking to bypass the restrictions, highlighting growing tension between online safety legislation and user privacy.
