Social media has quite a reputation, wouldn’t you agree? Because of the widespread use of social media and the exposure that can be obtained by simply using the internet, reports suggest that there has been an increase in the number of minors using social media. They’re young and possibly unwitting, making them more vulnerable to the harms and pitfalls of online browsing and those that would look to take advantage of such naiveté.
Social platforms are doubling their efforts to combat and reduce these risks, with Meta recently expanding its age verification tools to Facebook Dating in the US, powered by Yoti.
Safe & Date
According to Meta:
“We require people to be at least 18 years old in order to sign up for and access Facebook Dating and age verification tools will help verify that only adults are using the service and help prevent minors from accessing it.”
The decision to expand age verification to Facebook Dating revolves around Meta’s relationship with Yoti, which it originally introduced as a way to verify Instagram user ages back in June. Check out this video for a bit of extra detail. Yoti’s system is trained on a huge dataset of anonymous images of a diverse range of people across the globe. From this, Yoti is essentially able to accurately estimate someone’s age from a video selfie, based on a range of parameters.
Using video to detect user ages is increasingly becoming more accurate, which Meta will now use to check ages across Facebook, Instagram, and now – Facebook Dating. Meta notes that such a process has already helped it detect and remove many underage users. Additionally, users will also be able to upload an identification form to verify their age.
Combined, these elements provide Meta with a whole new toolset to essentially bar underage users from accessing any of its apps and, more importantly, the dangers associated with them. Just last week, Bloomberg published a harrowing report about the rising number of children who’ve died attempting dangerous TikTok challenges. Those under 12 shouldn’t even be able to access the app, but as reported, many of them can simply lie to bypass the app’s relatively poor security checks. Bloomberg says that TikTok also considered video ID, but concerns with personal; data collection and its vague connection with the Chinese government have left it hesitant to move forward on this.
The Wrap
Video ID isn’t new by any means, but it could play a big role, provided that it can be further refined. While it’s virtually impossible to create a foolproof system, the fact that users must upload several selfies does make it a bit harder to cheat. At the very least, it’s good to see Meta expand its use of video ID to more areas, which might just positively impact this particularly critical element.
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