Should the internet be age-gated and ID verified?

So recently the EU implemented digital age verification that caused people to figure out that they could use Death Stranding's photo mode to get around the verification process (lol).

The USA is about to start implementing something similar and Apple is supporting age verification through things like Verify with Wallet API.

The internet has always been the place of "freedom" and safe haven for folks, is this step towards verification something that might eventually change that into a more restricted digital knowledge base?

I'm totally in agreement with moderating how content can be distributed so it's safe for children but for some reason something feels a little off to me about this. I'm curious what everyone thinks!

How do you think these type of policies will impact our future ability to interact with the digital world?