Lying about your age is a time-honored practice. People did it well before the internet was invented, and they’ll do it until the heat death of the universe. But the internet makes it uniquely easy to lie about your age. ‘Age verification’ on most websites includes ticking a box. Some get fancy and ask you to enter a birthdate.
We personally think an effective age verification system would involve asking someone to identify a floppy disk…But maybe that just shows our ages.
And we’ll admit it: YouTube seems to have found a better system.
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The Google-owned platform has historically faced issues with distinguishing young users from adults, which means kids have been able to access YouTube in the same way adults can. In the U.S., that becomes a serious legal problem, thanks to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, aka COPPA, which makes it illegal for digital platforms and services to collect, use, and/or disclose personal information collected from kids under 13.
The Federal Trade Commission fined YouTube $170 million for COPPA violations back in 2019. Its ruling also led to YouTube making sweeping changes like disabling ads and comment sections on videos it thinks are aimed at kids.
Now, YouTube is introducing a machine learning system that it says will be able to distinguish between young viewers and adults.
The system uses AI, which YouTube and Google parent Alphabet has invested a lot in over the past couple years, and says is paying off for it in quarterly earnings. The AI works by rolling into a user’s account and “interpret[ing] a variety of signals” from it, like what kinds of videos the user searches for, the categories of videos they watch, and how old the account is.
If the system thinks an account is being operated by a kid/teen, it’ll automatically apply limits, including disabling ads, turning on YouTube’s suite of digital wellbeing tools, and “adding safeguards to recommendations, including limiting repetitive views of some kinds of content,” YouTube said in a company blog post.
It added, “YouTube was one of the first platforms to offer experiences designed specifically for young people, and we’re proud to again be at the forefront of introducing technology that allows us to deliver safety protections while preserving teen privacy. Families trust YouTube to provide a safe and enriching experience, and we’ll continue to invest to protect their ability to explore safely online.”
YouTube says the system is going out to a small set of users in the U.S. first, and that it’ll be “closely monitored” before it goes out to more people. It’ll apply to signed-in accounts only, across desktop, mobile, and connected TV usage.
In the wake of the $170M FTC ruling, YouTube’s new policies on kids’ content hit channels and videos that weren’t making content for children. People like adult reviewers of action figures and those who made fan content for shows like My Little Pony suddenly found their channels ad-less and comment-less, impacting their revenue and ability to engage with their communities. YouTube has course-corrected since, but we still occasionally see restrictions on videos that don’t appear to be aimed at kids.
That being said, YouTube already has plans for how to handle potential mistakes from this new system.
“If the system incorrectly estimates a user to be under 18, they will have the option to verify that they are 18 or over, such as using a credit card or a government ID,” it said. “We will only allow users who have been inferred or verified as over 18 to view age-restricted content that may be inappropriate for younger users.”
Worth a mention: YouTube is introducing this system after losing a tooth-and-nail fight against Australia. The country down under is on the cusp of introducing a law that will fine big social media platforms that fail to take “reasonable steps” to keep kids under 16 from creating accounts. Originally, YouTube was slated to be exempt from this law, but Australia reconsidered. So, beginning this December, YouTube could be on the hook for more cash if it can’t effectively age-gate. We’re assuming this new system will be a key player in its plan to avoid fines.
