Age verification on social media is a tricky subject that many tech giants continue to struggle with.
So many new laws continue to spring up that restrict access of teens on social media. One of those challenges has to do with platforms putting an end to youngsters from getting access to the app.
Right now, the current systems in place aren’t doing a great job at stopping underage users from accessing apps. As per previous studies, the daily average screen times for children between 8 and 12 years keeps rising each year. There’s a major part of that time being spent on social media.
TikTok shared how a third of all American users below 14 were using its platform, but they’re not registered in that age bracket. Despite the apps keeping the age limit restricted to 13 and above, it’s clear that something is being done wrong that enables these kids to bypass systems easily. This is why enforcement is more important now than ever before.
That’s a serious problem in today’s day and age. We see Australia’s push to ban teenagers below 16 from apps online. This entails penalties for various platforms in case they don’t enforce them.
Right now, there’s no real universal system that enables platforms to adhere to the restrictions and that can be a major issue in places like Australia that push to restrict those below 16 from social media.
If not, companies like Meta can face serious penalties for not enforcing the law. So far, we don’t see any kind of universal system coming into play that could enable apps to stick to such kinds of rules. This might be why we see tech giant Meta arguing about app stores getting a fair share of the blame as they’re better to enforce the restrictions.
Remember, they are the link between both the user and the app. They similarly have all the data in front of them on every device. Moreover, they’re in a better place to implement bigger checks and balances as compared to leaving it on the app alone.
Meanwhile, Apple is working hard to work its own magic and update the thresholds for teens using the app. However, it does fear it might be penalized for underage access.
Facebook’s parent firm has similarly trialed checking done through third parties through video analysis coming from Yoti that estimates an individual’s age. Meta shared how this would be implemented in selected places through Instagram and Facebook, but it’s still in the testing phase.
Now, we’re hearing more about it expanding in different countries to include both Instagram and Facebook. This week, the tech giant shared how it’s made updates to the Help Center that lists ID verification to entail a specific note.
That speaks about Facebook entering a contract with Yoti, which is a third party service for age verification. This ensures more age-appropriate experiences for users. It similarly puts out different methods for age verification on the app and is verified by the likes of Age Check Certification Schemes. And remember, Yoti is not a new name in the industry. It’s all over the place including e-commerce, gaming, and social media.
The age checking certification scheme will give rise to more assurance for verification of age. Meta also speaks about Face IDs being a sensitive domain that could violate users’ data privacy. In this case, Meta might be looking to expand working with Yoti’s Video ID tools for age verification.
Only if the company’s trials for video ID verification go down well, it might give rise to wonderful results that offer the best solution to a more robust means for age verification. Again, it’s too soon to say anything so we will need to keep our eyes out for how the trial goes.
Read next: Google’s Gemini Chatbot Might Get Innovative AI Video Creation Capabilities
So many new laws continue to spring up that restrict access of teens on social media. One of those challenges has to do with platforms putting an end to youngsters from getting access to the app.
Right now, the current systems in place aren’t doing a great job at stopping underage users from accessing apps. As per previous studies, the daily average screen times for children between 8 and 12 years keeps rising each year. There’s a major part of that time being spent on social media.
TikTok shared how a third of all American users below 14 were using its platform, but they’re not registered in that age bracket. Despite the apps keeping the age limit restricted to 13 and above, it’s clear that something is being done wrong that enables these kids to bypass systems easily. This is why enforcement is more important now than ever before.
That’s a serious problem in today’s day and age. We see Australia’s push to ban teenagers below 16 from apps online. This entails penalties for various platforms in case they don’t enforce them.
Right now, there’s no real universal system that enables platforms to adhere to the restrictions and that can be a major issue in places like Australia that push to restrict those below 16 from social media.
If not, companies like Meta can face serious penalties for not enforcing the law. So far, we don’t see any kind of universal system coming into play that could enable apps to stick to such kinds of rules. This might be why we see tech giant Meta arguing about app stores getting a fair share of the blame as they’re better to enforce the restrictions.
Remember, they are the link between both the user and the app. They similarly have all the data in front of them on every device. Moreover, they’re in a better place to implement bigger checks and balances as compared to leaving it on the app alone.
Meanwhile, Apple is working hard to work its own magic and update the thresholds for teens using the app. However, it does fear it might be penalized for underage access.
Facebook’s parent firm has similarly trialed checking done through third parties through video analysis coming from Yoti that estimates an individual’s age. Meta shared how this would be implemented in selected places through Instagram and Facebook, but it’s still in the testing phase.
Now, we’re hearing more about it expanding in different countries to include both Instagram and Facebook. This week, the tech giant shared how it’s made updates to the Help Center that lists ID verification to entail a specific note.
That speaks about Facebook entering a contract with Yoti, which is a third party service for age verification. This ensures more age-appropriate experiences for users. It similarly puts out different methods for age verification on the app and is verified by the likes of Age Check Certification Schemes. And remember, Yoti is not a new name in the industry. It’s all over the place including e-commerce, gaming, and social media.
The age checking certification scheme will give rise to more assurance for verification of age. Meta also speaks about Face IDs being a sensitive domain that could violate users’ data privacy. In this case, Meta might be looking to expand working with Yoti’s Video ID tools for age verification.
Only if the company’s trials for video ID verification go down well, it might give rise to wonderful results that offer the best solution to a more robust means for age verification. Again, it’s too soon to say anything so we will need to keep our eyes out for how the trial goes.
Read next: Google’s Gemini Chatbot Might Get Innovative AI Video Creation Capabilities
