On July 25th， the UK officially implemented its new Online Safety Act， which mandates stringent age verification mechanisms for websites and social platforms. The primary objective of this legislation is to prevent minors from accessing harmful content.
However， a recent discovery has revealed an unexpected vulnerability in this system， exposed by the highly realistic character modeling in the game Death Stranding 2.
According to Ofcom， the UK’s communication regulator， websites are required to verify user age through methods such as facial age verification， digital identity checks， credit card verification， or carrier authentication to confirm if a user is over 18. Social media and gaming platforms are also tasked with enhancing their content filtering algorithms and offering more safety options for child accounts.
British gamers have found that the incredibly lifelike facial model of the protagonist， Sam Porter Bridges， in Death Stranding 2 is so detailed that it can fool age verification systems. By utilizing the game’s photo mode to change Sam’s expressions and angles， players can successfully bypass age restrictions on websites or adult content channels that rely on facial recognition.
This method is not simply about using a static photograph; rather， it leverages the real-time rendering of in-game character models to generate dynamic， multi-angle facial expressions. These representations are so sophisticated that they can effectively deceive AI-driven facial recognition systems， much like a real person. Since these verification systems typically do not retain the submitted verification photos， platforms currently lack a straightforward way to track and prevent such circumvention tactics.
Reports indicate that this loophole is not exclusive to Death Stranding 2; the original Death Stranding is also reported to produce similar results. Furthermore， other games with highly realistic character models， such as Baldur’s Gate 3， may possess comparable vulnerabilities.
