I use Tor’s Snowflake extension in my browser, and I’ve noticed that the counter of how many users it has helped circumvent censorship over the last 24 hours has been very high for a couple of days now, upwards of around 50 per day, where usually it’s 2 or 3. I know there’s a lot going on around the world right now, but is there anything in particular I’ve missed that could explain the sudden spike in Tor traffic (or simply just Snowflake bridge usage)?
This happened early December:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/09/australia/australia-social-media-ban-starts-intl-hnk
Platforms are checking ages via live video selfies, email addresses or official documents. According to Yoti, an age verification company whose clients include Meta, most users choose a video selfie which uses facial data points to estimate age.