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A month ago I was asked in a surprise email to verify my age for YouTube with a credit card, which I did to avoid landing in support hell later on, because I publish browser extensions with the Google account.

I rarely log in, and I wasn't using the Google account at the time the email was sent, nor do I ever use the attached YouTube account. The card was saved in Google Payments without my consent.

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You're in the UK right? The UK has a law requiring this, although it isn't currently enforced.

I live in the EU. Their support page mentions that they will ask for age verification when you attempt to watch a restricted video, but I was not using the YouTube account.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10070779

Then there's also the question of creating a payment profile for the user without consent.

> If you enter your credit card info for age verification, Google will retain this data as necessary to meet legal and regulatory requirements.

https://support.google.com/accounts?p=age-verify

Meeting legal requirements is very different from saving your card in Google Payments, which then you can readily use to buy products in any Google service.

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