# CON-AGE-GATE — Age-gated programs require real age verification at opt-in

> A campaign declaring age-gated content must verify age at the point of consent, not merely ask for self-attestation.

- **Rule ID:** CON-AGE-GATE
- **Layer:** Consent flow (`CONSENT_FLOW`)
- **Checks:** `consent surface`
- **Severity:** BLOCKING — Breaking this rule gets the submission rejected outright.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** AI judgement over the crawled website or policy page; AI vision over a consent artifact (screenshot, scan, MMS media)
- **Fix type:** Fix the website — no form edit clears it
- **Required by:** CTIA, T-Mobile, TCR
- **Applies:** Applies when `ageGated` is true.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/consent-flow/con-age-gate/

## Why this rule exists

Robust age verification means electronic confirmation of age and identity, which in practice means collecting a full date of birth. The carrier discretion to waive age gating was removed in SCMH v1.8, so a self-attest tick box that used to be tolerated now fails, and the underlying content categories carry per-message violation fees.

## How to fix it

Collect a full date of birth (MM/DD/YYYY) at opt-in and reject under-age submissions server-side. Replace any "I am 21 or older" checkbox — self-attestation is not robust verification and is no longer waivable.