What makes you think this is going to stave off that world? More likely you'll get both, since I doubt this API is going to satisfy other states' age verification requirements.

Sometimes a token effort or theater is sufficient to quell public sentiment. Like the oft-ignored and ineffective speed limits on roads, or the security theater at airports. That only handles the sentiment angle though. You still have to do something about would-be autocrats who want censorship and surveillance tools, and the oligarchs who want tracking and targeting data.