With kids having access to all the techno-gadgets, the age verification system is an important safety measure to protect children from viewing inappropriate content. Highly recommended for Gambling companies, adult video websites, and other businesses that sell products or provide services that are specifically targeted at adults online.
Putting an age verification system in place on the aforementioned websites and apps is not optional. Failure to do so is a violation of numerous laws and community guidelines, which, at the very least, will result in your platform being banned.
However, In the past few years, many verification methods have been implemented online to keep minors away from inappropriate content. Some methods worked, some didn’t, and some (no thanks to juvenile curiosity) the minors discovered tricks to bypass.
It is also important to note that deliberately putting age verification methods that are outdated or have been discovered to be inefficient on your platform is seriously frowned upon.
But you need not worry, in this article you will learn how to implement the most effective age verification system on your online content, promoting safety for Minors without ruining user experience.
The 4 Most Effective Age Verification Solutions Online
A little background on the history of age verification solutions
The very first age verification system that was used on the internet was the self-declaration method.
Self-declaration age verification system is the method of asking a user to check the box provided to indicate they are above 18 (or whatever the age requirement is for the website), and that’s it, the user will be granted access immediately.
Maybe the method was a great idea at the time, and we are only able to see how many ways things could go wrong now due to technological advancement, but it surely didn’t solve the problem, even then.
After that came the credit card age verification method, which also didn’t end well.
Some online platforms decided that if they just ask the user to provide credit card information, they will be able to keep Minors away. What they didn’t seem to see coming at the time was the fact that a minor can have access to a credit card. And there is no way to tell if it was the owner of the card using it.
That left a lot of room for manipulation. All Minors had to do to access adult content was get their hands on their parents’ or guardians’ credit cards.
However, a lot of bad ideas later, including but not limited to analyzing internet usage patterns, sms verification, etc. we finally discovered 4 effective and efficient age verification system that solves the problem.
When you implement any of the solutions you are about to learn, it will help protect Minors by keeping them away from viewing inappropriate content.
- Biometric Scans:
One of the most effective ways to verify the age of your website users, and in effect restrict underage Minors is by taking a biometric scan.
Biometric scans include face ID, fingerprint, or retina scan. Using the captured biometric, the system will search for information about the user on different databases to ascertain their age and other information.
This method works because every person has a unique biometric identification, meaning no two people on Earth have the same fingerprint or retina.
Thanks to the collection of this vital biometric information by government agencies during registration for documents like voters card, passports, national IDs, etc. There is a readily available database that the system can look into to confirm the information provided by the user.
- Personal Documents:
Every adult will likely have at least one government-issued ID. It can be an International Passport, a Driver’s license, a Voter’s Card, etc.
To verify the age of a user, the age verification system on your website or app can request the picture or the code of the document, or both.
First, the system will need to verify the authenticity of the document. When the document passes the authentication process, the information found on it will be used to confirm the information already submitted by the user, including their age.
- Matching Biometric Scans with Personal Documents:
This is a kind of two-factor authentication, and it is a very effective age verification solution.
The website or app will ask a user to take a picture of the front side of their document where their picture must be located. After that, the user will be asked to take a selfie.
By matching the selfie taken to the picture on the document provided, the system will be able to ascertain that the document’s owner is the same person using the phone.
When it has been established that the picture on the document matches the selfie taken, the system can then go on to authenticate the document, fetch its information, and use the details to determine if the user should be granted access or denied access to the content they seek on the website or app.
- Age Verification Software:
When the three aforementioned solutions are great and efficient, it can be financially tasking to put together the infrastructures required for their implementation. And that is where identity verification software comes in.
These are third-party programs that are specifically designed to ascertain the age of a user, among other information, using three-factor authentication.
This software uses a combination of the three verification solutions mentioned above to gather information about a user, authenticate the data, and help the website or app decide if the user satisfies the needed requirements.
This is how using Age verification software work;
When you implement the software on your website or app, users will be directed to the software page for verification whenever they are about to view age-sensitive content.
It is on this (third-party) website the age verification process will take place. The user will be asked to present all the documents and Biometric necessary and the system will thoroughly authenticate the documents.
After verifying the user’s age among other information, the software will then redirect the user to your website and give them access to the content they seek.
What is the best age verification solution for you?
You might want to know which of the listed age verification solutions will work best for you, but the fact is, you can never go wrong with anyone you choose.
Any one of the four solutions highlighted above you decide to use is guaranteed to help you ascertain the age of users on your website or app, effectively and efficiently. Therefore, it is totally up to you to decide which one you want to use.
