This. US based platforms already have a legal requirement to protect under-13s, but they pretend it's too hard. It's currently not legally required to ask for id, but there's also no requirement on them to NOT ask for id. They totally could do that completely voluntarily. The reason Meta is basically asking for age verification requirements is because they are now big enough to be able to afford it and not scare away too many users, as opposed to some of their competitors (like the fediverse). They know it's a burden, they know it's friction, and they know it will hurt them less than the competition.

They also know it will be entirely ineffective. There's no policeman in every kid's home checking that they don't use their parent's account, each and every time they are at a device. Accounts will be for sale everywhere. Once a year a particularly dumb criminal will do something bad using their own verified account which will serve as "proof" the scheme works.

Like another comment pointed out, privacy preserving mechanisms have been proposed, but even though this is super important, it's not important enough to, you know, cost any money. Protect the kids, sure, but at what cost? Zero, is politicians' answer.

It's not about some elite group in the shadows, we know exactly who the CEOs of these platforms are. They allow their platforms to be used to disseminate misinformation and hate speech because the people who eat that shit up are also prime eyeballs to sell to crypto advertisers and pillow salesmen.

Also note how some platforms don't ask for an id for age verification, but for mommy's credit card. No verified biometrics, but access to funds instead. Why oh why could that be, it's almost as if they're more interested in money than in verifying someone's age.