Government regulations are trying their best to protect minors from getting access to age-restricted products and services. However, businesses that do not adopt ways to protect children from gaining access can land themselves in hot waters. Hefty fines, business sanctions, and reputational loss are some of the consequences of not adhering to age verification regulations. Hence, it is the responsibility of all businesses, whether dealing in monetary transactions or not, to regulate their workplace to not provide age-restricted products and services.
When businesses started facing immense challenges in order to comply with changing age verification regulations, they started looking for more advanced techniques to streamline their workflow. Unfortunately, manual age verification came with numerous demerits, and to bust them, businesses then adopted digital age verification solutions.
Challenges Faced by Minors with Age Verification
The technological boom has created ways for children to get access to the digital world effortlessly. Unfortunately, children are unaware of the consequences of signing themselves up on adult websites. Their data can be accessed by fraudsters and can be used to trick them. Children are vulnerable with or without parental supervision. Therefore it is necessary to make those products unavailable to children that are age-restricted. Drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and adult content are the most exploited by children without age verification solutions.
Additionally, social media sites have minor checks to ensure the children are the age as mentioned earlier. However, checks such as just a tick box to authenticate their age identity can be busted by clever kids. Hence, when minors sign up on social media, fraudsters gain access to their basic information and hack into their accounts. The hacking then gives leverage to criminals to use the information as whatever means they want them to. They usually access this information to blackmail minors into providing them with credit or debit card details or account details of their parents. They then use the credentials to log in to the accounts, purchase gift cards, or make payments.
Another disadvantage of not incorporating age verification solutions on online platforms is the misuse of products and services not designed for underage children. As a result, underage children get access to products and services, and then businesses land themselves in compromising situations because of violating COPPA regulations.
The GDPR section in Europe states that all government authorities must ensure that no business can leak out children’s data out of the continent. Recently, TikTok was sued for mishandling the data of minors according to BBC news. Hence, stringent regulations must be reinforced to make sure children’s rights are not violated at any cost.
Use Cases of Age verification Solutions
Age verification has landed many industries in compromising situations and they have faced multiple types of challenges. So let’s dive into those challenges and their solutions.
Social Media Platform
All social media platforms have different strategies to protect minors from being exposed. Nevertheless, these policies are not enough and have caused them to be in court and pay hefty fines. When individuals make accounts on social media platforms, just a tick box is required to verify the individual’s age, and no proper age checks are run. Hence, children sign up on these platforms and those with bad intentions steal information and details for their own benefit.
E-commerce
When covid-19 was ongoing, businesses had to adopt other means of providing their services and products. These products were available online and could be accessed by all individuals. Whether they were adults, youngsters, or minors, age-restricted products could be accessed from anywhere, and anytime.
Tobacco E-stores
In the USA, selling tobacco under the age of 21 is unlawful according to the FDA. The FDA launched a program in November 2019 called “ This Is Our Watch” that creates awareness to better understand tobacco regulations, compliance, and protection of the youth amongst tobacco retailers.
Unfortunately, buying tobacco online is still not a worrisome task for underage children but with the implementation of age verification solutions, these can be minimized for an effective KYCC.
Conclusion
Regulatory authorities have tried hard enough to bring age verification online regulations worldwide under one streamline platform. COPPA keeps updating its regulations to ensure maximum security of minors. Other regulations have also been imposed to combat the exploitation of the rights of minors’. Hence businesses need to adopt age verification solutions to minimize children getting access to unwanted products and services while they comply with rules and regulations to avoid any fines.
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