Age verification has become one of the most significant and sensitive topics in the industry these days. Technological advancements have made the internet and smart devices immensely available and that can be harmful to minors. A survey conducted states that 53% of minors in the US start to use smartphones by the age of eleven.
The survey also reports that 84% of teenagers have phones. The younger generation is tech-savvy and knows more about technology than the generation of their parents. This makes it even more difficult for them to keep parental supervision hence raising the demand for age verification even more.
In this blog, let’s discuss the importance of age verification and how it has taken over the age-gate requirements.
Need for Age Verification Checks
The huge numbers of minors indulging themselves in advanced technological experiences have developed a serious challenge for businesses to add much-needed age checks for the protection of minors. This had led to a significant rise in the demand for the age verification solution in the past few years especially when business organizations started to move their operations online. With this major shift, there has been a good number of cases highlighted that indicate the minor’s access to age-restricted content, service, or product.
An incident that was reported was of a sixteen-year-old boy who brutally stabbed a schoolboy with a knife and took his life. The knife was brought online from Amazon. After analyzing such incidents, the regulators became more strict in preventing minors’ access to harmful substances online.
Organizations are now required to take measures to verify the age of their customer to avoid providing them with any age-unsuitable product. The regulators are always looking for entities that are not complying with the age verification rules. If the entity is found, it is heavily fined or penalized for such neglect.
The Regulations to Ensure Age Verification Compliance
According to a report by CDC report, one of the main factors behind the death of underage children is alcohol. According to the Young People Gambling report, up to 450,000 children between the age of 11 and 16 are known to take part in gambling activity online. The statistics highlight the dark picture of minors accessing harmful and illegal products online.
Governments across the globe are creating their own age verification laws to keep minors safe. The USA has already passed regulations that prohibit businesses from selling age-restricted products and services.
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act has been revised and it has now changed the minimum age for the sale of products containing tobacco from 18 to 21 years. NVP or Nicotine Vapour Products law of Scotland forbids the vendors from selling products containing nicotine and tobacco under the age of 18. It has also mandated the retailers to verify the ID cards of the purchasers who look younger than the age of 25.
Age Gate Becomes the thing of Past
The age verification laws have pushed organizations to implement age gates on their websites. These age-gate checks verify age by asking the user to check the box if they are older than 18. No user is that honest and the minor trying to access the illegal content or product will never be truthful about their age.
There is no other way to check if the person ticking the box is actually an adult and not a minor. This age gate is just a formality and they do not play a part in the verification of age. A more authentic solution is required for online age verification.
Digital Age Verification
According to the research, businesses cannot depend on simple age checks. Businesses are trying to survive with the requirements of age and what is the best approach to create age verification solutions for online credit card use.
The answer to this is a simple yet advanced solution of digital age verification that can perform age verification within seconds. The solution is based on artificial intelligence verifying the identity of the person along with their age accurately. The age verification solution is trained on the different document types which enables it to capture the forged or stolen ID documents and verify the authenticity of the age displayed on the ID documents.
