What are the Dangers of Age Verification on Social Media?

When someone you know asks for your age, you normally tell them. Without a sweat. It’s understandable. You trust them. But how about if it’s a stranger?

The risks of online age verification are: excessive data collection, data breaches, surveillance, and false positives or negatives.

Your age might be a simple piece of information, but it does hold value, especially in the eyes of data-hungry companies. It can be sold, or be used to build a profile on you. That’s why online age verification is a recent hot topic.

As reported by CNBC, about half of US states “have passed,” or “are currently considering,” laws that will require online platforms to prevent minors (under the age of 18) from accessing their services. This applies to most digital platforms, including social media, online gaming, and adult content websites.

Because of this, more and more companies are starting to require age verification. For example, in February, Discord announced that it's planning to implement mandatory age verification worldwide. It said that its systems would use methods in which facial analysis occurs directly on devices. While the company promised that any collected data would be deleted immediately, the company faced backlash from users. The concern was about the requirement of government-issued IDs or selfies for verification. As such, Discord postponed the implementation of age verification.

Additionally, in the UK, major tech companies have been urged to fortify their age verification processes.

Ofcom (a media regulator) and the data protection authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), have reached out to major platforms. This includes Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Roblox. Ofcom and the ICO encouraged these companies to enforce stronger measures to protect children online.

Both regulators argued that the self-reporting of age during the sign-up process (most companies currently rely on it) is ineffective because users can bypass it easily.

Basically, age may be verified through various methods. This may include providing government-issued identification, voice recognition systems, facial recognition, or using “age inference” tools, which estimate ages based on online behavior.

For websites that offer online gambling, adult content, or financial services, age verification processes and requirements are generally stricter. Their systems often require government IDs or live images (selfie). Plus, some of their systems often use artificial intelligence tools from identity-verification providers.

When you upload an ID, selfie, or a short video clip, verification systems will analyze your age and determine whether you meet the required age to access a platform.

The push for mandatory online age verification started when advocates raised concerns about the growing negative effects of social media on kids’ mental health. Now, many adults agree with the implementation of age verification, hoping to protect their kids.

It’s true. One benefit of age verification is child protection. It will help prevent kids from accessing inappropriate content, such as pornography, self-harm, addictive graphics, exploitation, and drug use. With age restrictions, kids will be able to safely navigate the internet and get the information they need, without the risk of seeing wrong stuff.

Of course, there are broader safety gains, aside from child protection. For example, age and identity verification can help block fake accounts, potentially reducing the number of scam accounts.

So, definitely, there are pros to age verification. But how about the cons?

While age verification can solve some issues, it can also raise new ones.

• Risk No. 1: Excessive Data Collection: Companies will need your government IDs, selfies, videos, biometric data (e.g., voice samples), and even online behavior data. These are sensitive pieces of information. While some companies promise the immediate deletion of data, we really can’t guarantee that they’ll honor their promises. And with your data in their hands, the higher the chances of you being affected in case of a data breach. Your data may also be passed to many third parties, putting your privacy at more risk.
  
• Risk No. 2: Surveillance and Tracking: Companies can use your data to track your behavior across platforms, find your real identity, and share your data with companies or the government. This may affect your freedom of expression and may impact people who rely on anonymity for protection.
  
• Risk No. 3: False Positives / Negatives: Age estimation is not perfect, just like how generative AI tools aren’t. With systems using AI to guess a user’s age, it could result in adults being incorrectly flagged as minors, and minors bypassing the system. Plus, there may be biases based on your gender, camera quality, and race, which could lead to unnecessary account restrictions or discrimination.

While lawmakers and regulators have more control over age verification requirements, there are still things you can do to protect yourself.

For example, verify your age only when it’s necessary. Ask yourself: “Is this required to use the service?” “Can I trust this website?” If your answer is no, then don’t share your age. Just leave the website and find other trusted or well-known platforms.

Aside from this, here are other things you can do:

• Tip No. 1: Read Privacy Policies: Yes, reading policies is hard (because of wordy and lengthy documents). But by reading them, you’ll know whether or not your data will be safe. Look for information about what data is collected, how long it will be stored, data sharing with third parties, and data deletion. And if the policies are unclear, you can just avoid providing your information.
  
• Tip No. 2: Limit What You Share: Ensure that you’re giving what’s only necessary. If your ID is required, that should be enough. Don’t submit any more documents. If the system allows partial ID scans or masking, then do that. Remember that the less data they have, the lower the damage will be in case of a data breach.
  
• Tip No. 3: Exercise Your Rights (Where Available): You have the right to know and delete your data. In the US, there are over 20 states that offer consumer data protection (e.g., California, Maryland, Florida, Iowa, etc.). So, when you can, request data deletion. And remember, it’s not just social media companies that collect data; almost every company, especially data brokers, collects your information. You can request to remove your data from them as well.

Overall, while age verification may solve issues, it does pose risks to data privacy.

Kids should indeed be safe online, but protecting them should not compromise our privacy. There should be stricter rules on data collection, retention, and deletion.

As per TikTok’s Privacy Policy, TikTok is available for people at least 13 years old. However, TikTok safeguards users through a default privacy setting that will restrict features and content until a user turns 16 or 18.

Based on Instagram’s policy, users have to be at least 13 years old to create an account. This is applicable in most regions. And in other regions, users may be required to verify their age to continue using their accounts, accessing specific features, or changing birthdays on their accounts.