Steam: People have already found a way to bypass the UK's age restriction requirement

Steam has implemented an age verification mechanism for adult games on its platform since the 29th of August 2025. Starting that date, players need to have a valid credit card on their user account to verify it, and the account remains ‘verified’ as long as a valid credit card is attached to it, enabling the user to view and purchase adult content. 

Steam is in full compliance with the UK Online Safety Act and has followed the guidance provided by Ofcom, an independent regulator for online safety, which believes that a “highly effective age assurance measure is credit card checks.” This is because UK rules only allow people aged 18 or older to apply for a credit card; unfortunately, a debit card will not suffice, as there is no age restriction on it. Among all the proposed and recommended changes, this is the one Valve has reviewed and concluded that it provides the most privacy. 

The exploit, soon to be fixed, allows viewing adult content via a different source and leveraging its compatibility features to add and eventually purchase the game. Sources claim the method is legal but will obviously be fixed very soon. The post made on Reddit is still up and has a very active comment section. “Measures like this make piracy look more appealing than ever,” reads one such comment. 

Another interesting point to note is that some games use images on their Steam pages, hosted on IMGUR, a popular platform for sharing pictures that is now also banned in the UK. “UK users will not be able to log in, view content, or upload images. Imgur content embedded on third-party sites will not display for UK users,” the notice published by IMGUR read.

This comes in the wake of last month’s notification by the UK’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), to IMGUR’s parent company, MediaLab AI, stating its intent to fine them following an investigation into their age-checking methods and the use of minors’ data. Rather than addressing the issues, the company decided a blanket ban was a better idea. 

One user tried to contact Steam support over an issue with age verification and not having a credit card, and support could only offer limited advice: “For now, verification based on credit card ownership is the only path we can provide for age verification under the OSA.” It may be better to contact Ofcom and address the issues directly if you are a UK resident who does not have a credit card but is over 18.