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It is not about age. It is just a way to tie accounts to a real life identity.

It won't be surprising if the requirement comes from some alphabet agency.

Don't most countries give people their first IDs before 18? Mine does it at 14.

In the U.S., you can get a passport for a baby. In my state, you can get a state ID for your child.

I don't believe IDs are mandatory for children, though? School IDs, maybe, but processing/storing those is going to be a data handling nightmare

Sure, but they could still check the age while also linking the ID.

Dont they already have the payment information?

Not universally. I've had a free dropbox account for nearly 2 decades, and never attached a payment method