> pass the facial age detection

Are you kidding me? So the answer is let's let some random vendors used by said corporation scan her face? This feels like using DNA sequencing to confirm you're tall enough to ride the rollercoaster.

It’s just as reliable as you’d expect from a system that relies on shitty cellphone camera pics.

They’re trying to guess the age of someone who could pass for 11 or for 22, and who with careful use of makeup could push that figure in either direction.

For some reason (and this is one reason people think there's a conspiracy), that is the "preferred" form of age verification. It certainly saves the government from having to do IT.