The internet can be a great resource. We can chat to friends, expand our knowledge, watch our favourite shows, and even do an exercise class.
With so much of our lives spent online, it’s important that children can access the best the internet has to offer. Unfortunately, many children are stumbling across content which is explicit, harmful or inappropriate for their age.
To tackle this, regulators around the world are seriously looking at how to provide children and young people with safer and age-appropriate experiences. Children should not be excluded from the internet; instead we need to focus on making sure children are only accessing content appropriate for their age.
Age assurance legislation
There is a global movement towards the introduction of age assurance legislation. In the UK, the Age Appropriate Design Code (the ‘AADC’, also called the Children’s Code) is the first statutory code of practice for children’s data in the world. Introduced by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office in 2021, it aims to ensure that online services are designed in the best interests of a child. The UK is also waiting for the Online Safety Bill to come into force. The Bill will enforce extensive duties on regulated companies to protect their users, especially children, from content that is illegal, harmful to children, and ‘legal but harmful’ to adults.
Across the pond, California signed its own version of the AADC, modelled on the UK version. It was signed into law in September 2022 and takes effect on 1 July 2024. Numerous US states are also bringing in legislation which requires social media and adult platforms to verify the age of users.
With more legislation coming into force, an increasing number of platforms will be required to know the age of their users and play their part in improving online safety. But how can they check the age of users, without having to ask everyone to show an identity document?
Privacy-preserving age checks
Facial age estimation was developed to give everyone a secure and private way to prove their age, without sharing their name or any identity documents.
The technology is powered by an algorithm that’s learnt to estimate age in the same way humans do – by looking at faces. It has been trained to look at facial features in an image. To the technology, the image is simply a pattern of pixels, and the pixels are numbers. Facial age estimation technology spots patterns in numbers, so it learns ‘this pattern is what 16 year olds usually look like’ and ‘this pattern is what 6 year olds look like’.
A privacy-preserving solution, the technology never knows or learns the name or identity of a person. Because it does not recognise anyone, it is not facial recognition. As soon as someone’s age is estimated, their image is deleted – protecting privacy at all times.
Unlike traditional age verification approaches, no documents are needed with facial age estimation. This makes it more private than sharing an identity document or credit card. Think about all of the information on your ID – your full name, nationality, date of birth, address, passport number and so on. Being asked to show an identity document just to prove your age doesn’t make sense. If a business needs to know someone is the right age for something, this technology allows that to just be a yes or no answer.
Facial age estimation is also more inclusive. Given one in five people in the UK do not own a ‘root anchor document’ and over one billion people around the world are without ID, companies need to ensure online experiences are inclusive and accessible to all. Ideally, they would offer a range of age assurance options; allowing people to choose the method which suits their personal situation and the one they feel most comfortable with.
Facial age estimation is creating age-appropriate experiences
Facial age estimation is being used at scale across numerous industries, including social media, gaming, gambling, dating, adult, live streaming, ecommerce and retail. It has been chosen by leading brands, such as Instagram, Facebook, OnlyFans, SuperAwesome and Yubo, to help create age-appropriate experiences.
Instagram introduced the technology last year to check the age of users who wish to change their date of birth from under the age of 18 to 18 or over. Users have two options to prove their age: upload their ID or use facial age estimation. When presented with the two options, 81% of users select facial age estimation. Instagram initially introduced facial age estimation in the US. Since then, they have expanded it globally, including the UK, Europe, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Japan, India and Australia.
OnlyFans became the first UK-based subscription platform to introduce facial age estimation to protect under 18s from creating accounts. The company chose this technology as it is less intrusive than traditional age verification methods, while still being highly effective. It is being used in certain jurisdictions, including the UK, to confirm those setting up Fan accounts are over 18. Since going live in August 2021, millions of age estimations have been completed.
SuperAwesome, an Epic Games company, introduced facial age estimation into their Kids Web Services (KWS) parent verification tool. KWS enables developers to verify the identity of parents or guardians when granting their child permission to use features that collect personal information. This process, known as Verifiable Parental Consent (VPC), is needed to confirm that the person giving permission is an adult and ensures compliance with privacy laws.
VPC is usually done by checking a parent or guardian’s identity via their identity document, a credit card transaction or social security number. But as legislation and safety standards evolve, SuperAwesome has introduced new methods, including facial age estimation, into KWS to provide more options for parents going through the VPC process. In the countries where it is available, more than 60 percent of parents are choosing facial age estimation.
With an age estimated in around one second, it’s not hard to see how this technology can help platforms to know the age of their users, without causing friction or impacting the user experience. Facial age estimation is a secure, privacy-preserving solution for a range of businesses including online platforms and content providers. It can help to protect children, provide age-appropriate experiences online, and comply with age assurance regulations.
