Update 29/08/25 - 16:59 UTC: since there's reports of it still working even with a Debit Card and not just a Credit Card (they're different in the UK), I've asked Valve if they have any comments on this. Since in the UK, even a preteen can get a Debit Card.
Update #2 - 19:33 UTC - Valve press replied to GamingOnLinux to confirm allowing Debit Cards for verification was a bug, which has now been solved.
Valve recently put up a new support page, detailing the steps they've taken to comply with the UK Online Safety Act.
The UK Online Safety Act has a rather broad scope, and has been the cause of many changes not just for UK citizens but people worldwide as more and more websites realise they're in scope of the act and have to make changes. It covers all sorts of thing from porn to community forums and more. And yes, that even includes video games too (which many developers likely aren't even aware of). If a video game has user to user communication (voice / text chat) and it's available in the UK, the developer will need to comply with it.
The likes of Reddit, Bluesky, Discord, Xbox and more have already rolled out verification systems.
To comply with it, Valve will now be requiring users from the UK to have a valid credit card stored on their account. Valve will do a direct check (that costs £0 to users) using their own internal payment processing system "which is independently certified under the PCI-DSS standard".
If you don't do this you won't be able to access "Steam store pages for mature content games as well as their associated community hubs".
In the UK, you have to be at least 18 to have a credit card, so this way does make a lot of sense - as you'll already be age verified if you have a credit card in your name. Valve additionally say that "Having the credit card stored as a payment method acts as an additional deterrent against circumventing age verification by sharing a single Steam user account among multiple persons".
Valve feel this way "preserves the maximum degree of user privacy" as the data they will process during this is no different to simply making a purchase on Steam. It's also only required if you've specifically opted into seeing mature content on Steam.
Source: Valve
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Wonder how long the UK government will keep this running. What happens if money becomes tight or the Tories take power again?
Wonder how long the UK government will keep this running. What happens if money becomes tight or the Tories take power again?
The law has been passed by the Torries.
TheRiddick 9 hours ago
Hell these days a lot of parents will give their kids a debit card with a tiny bit on money on it in case of an emergency or lunch money!
UK will probably ask for DNA verification next! Please wait while we decode your RNA strains... lol
Last edited by TheRiddick on 30 Aug 2025 at 2:05 am UTC
Kimyrielle 7 hours ago
The law has been passed by the Torries.
Yes. And the current not-Tory government had every chance on earth to let this law die in legislature. They didn't. The problem with the UK is that their last head of government who wasn't a complete idiot was named Winston Churchill.
Wonder how long the UK government will keep this running. What happens if money becomes tight or the Tories take power again?
The law has been passed by the Torries.
Ohh. Didn't know that.
The law has been passed by the Torries.
We can't vote but we can boycott.
They were very dishonest, refusing to tell me the truth and claiming that it was Steam who, according to them, had made the decision to no longer work with Paypal :) As if the people at Steam were masochists and wanted to harm their business !! Paypal is openly making fun of us...
The Steam people are telling the truth: A bank bought Paypal and has since declared war on Steam for questionable ethical reasons. I would like to know which bank we are talking about and especially if it has any connection with Microsoft, which tried unsuccessfully to buy Steam some time ago...
If they really wanted to comply with English law, why block payments in almost every country in the world ?
This makes no sense, and it's probably just another lie, or the people at PayPal are complete idiots who are doing stupid things without even realizing it... which I doubt !!
In my opinion, they know exactly what they are doing and are exerting pressure that is most likely illegal on Steam (at least in my country which is not England) for another reason that they do not want to reveal to us. Otherwise they wouldn't lie to us...
Since Paypal is preventing me from purchasing my games, I have decided to avoid using their services as much as possible while this situation continues. I have already cancelled standing order debits that I had previously set up with Paypal to pay for Netflix.
LordDaveTheKind 1 hour ago
Best one IMHO would be to have a 2FA Web app under the gov.uk domain. This could be then consumed as a standard by all the services and websites who sell mature content.
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