Verifying the age of your customers is a necessary step to creating a safe environment for everyone in your community. A lot of platforms have come up with solutions for this, but few seem effective at actually protecting minors from seeing adult content.
Currently, there are 21.56 million teenagers in the age group of 15-19 years in the USA, as per Statista. This adolescent age group is especially vulnerable, as currently, more than 88% of this population is online.
Age verification is key to protecting our children from inappropriate content online. We must implement age verification in all areas of the internet, as well as across different platforms like mobile apps and gaming consoles.
Here are a few ways in which we can implement age verification systems. We’ll explore each of these in turn below.
1. Biometrics
Biometrics are physiological or behavioral characteristics used to verify a person’s identity. The most common form of biometric authentication is fingerprint scanning, but other examples include facial recognition software and retinal scans.
The contactless biometrics market is projected to touch USD 78.6 Billion by 2032, growing at a rate of 16.4% CAGR in the next few years, says a report by Fact Market Research. This growth is driven by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Biometrics are a great way to verify someone’s age. The most common biometrics used for age verification are fingerprints, facial recognition, and voice recognition. Biometrics are unique to each person and can be used to prove that an individual is old enough to access content on the internet or use certain sites.
2. Personal documents
To verify your age, you will need to prove that you are over 18. This can be done by showing a government-issued photo ID, usually a passport or driver’s license, or another form of official identification that includes both your name and date of birth.
3. Matching Biometrics and Personal Documents
In a two-step process, a scan of an ID is provided by the user, followed by a selfie. The program verifies the photo with the ID and also checks if the age as per the uploaded ID is appropriate for site access or not. Advanced image processing and database scanning are two techniques used to verify the age of the user.
This process eliminates the loopholes that a single-step process fails to overlook. To get more info, click here so you can understand exactly how the process works. You also need to know the features provided by your age verification platform and do a competitive benchmarking with other providers too.
4. Credit Cards
Credit cards are not a good way to verify age. Credit card companies don’t want to be responsible for that process, and they already have their hands full with consumer fraud issues related to identity theft and credit card fraud. The other problem with credit cards is that they can be stolen or used by minors who know how to falsify their ages.
When you apply for a new card, it asks how old you are, but this information doesn’t get passed along when making purchases online. Only the billing address is recorded. It may seem like an easy solution, but if someone else has access to your wallet or purse and knows your PIN, then they could use it themselves even though technically they aren’t allowed yet under federal law.
5. Sms-Verification Protocols
SMS verification is a simple way to verify age. You can use SMS verification by sending an automated message to the users’ phones, prompting them to enter a code sent via text message. Once the user enters this code into your site or app, they’ll be allowed access.
Though SMS verification has traditionally been used as a method of collecting personal information from customers and clients, it can also serve as an effective way to prevent minors from accessing certain content or services on your platform.
Age verification is an important component of a robust online strategy. As more and more people turn to the web to place their bets, purchase goods like cannabis in states where it is legal, purchase e-cigarettes, etc., the industry has become increasingly aware of the need for age verification. This is especially true considering that many children lack the maturity necessary to make sound decisions about life choices.
This is a complicated issue, but it’s one we can and must address. The Internet has become part of our daily lives, and we need to ensure that children have the same protection from inappropriate content as they do in other areas of life.
Despite following so many security measures, teenagers can get scammed online. We suggest you immediately report the same to Federal Authorities online or by calling a toll-free number, 1-877-382-4357 (9:00 AM – 8:00 PM, ET).
