Online age checks (or age verifications) are used by businesses to ensure goods and services are only delivered to those who are an appropriate age to receive them.

Age checks prevent young children from obtaining items such as alcohol and cigarettes and assist in maintaining safe spaces on sites specifically targeted to children.

It is a legal requirement for sites selling restricted goods and services to check to age of their users, however more and more businesses are voluntarily employing age verification on their sites, even without there being a legal requirement to do so, in order to protect their customers and their businesses.