Government makes every effort to prevent children from gaining access to goods and services that are intended for people of a certain age. Businesses that do not take steps to prevent youngsters from gaining access, though, get into trouble. Consequences of breaking age verification rules include hefty penalties, corporate punishments, and negative brand damage. Therefore, regardless of whether they engage in money transfers or not, all firms must ensure that age-restricted goods and services are not provided.
Companies started searching for more sophisticated methods to optimize their operation when they encountered enormous difficulties in complying with evolving age verification standards. Unfortunately, the traditional age verification system has a number of drawbacks, which were then addressed by using digital age verification systems.
Age Verification and Challenges Encountered by Minors
The growth of technology has made it possible for kids to easily access the digital world as per Shufti Pro news. Sadly, children don’t realize the dangers of using adult content to create accounts. Their information is accessible to scammers, who can use it to deceive them. Whether parents are watching over them or not, children are always vulnerable. Therefore, it is vital to prevent minors from using age-restricted goods. Lacking age verification measures can lead to frequent exploitation of kids by alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and other kinds of adult material.
Additionally, social media platforms have a few little checks to make sure the kids are actually of the indicated age. A simple checkbox to verify the age of the individual can, unfortunately, be defeated by cunning children. Therefore, when young people register for social media profiles, scammers have access to their personal data and can access their accounts. The breach then provides thieves with the power to use their sensitive data. Typically, they use this data to threaten youngsters. They also get access to their accounts, buy gifts, make payments, or whatever they want to do using the credentials.
The abuse of goods and services not authorized for minors is a drawback of not using age verification online on digital sites. As a result, minors have access to products, and businesses find themselves in risky situations due to breaking COPPA regulations.
According to the GDPR clause in Europe, all governmental entities must make sure that no company exports the personal information of children. As per BBC News, TikTok has been recently sued for improper management of children’s data. Therefore, strict laws must be strengthened to ensure that kids’ rights aren’t abused at any cost.
Age Verification Solutions in Different Platforms
The conventional or absence of age verification method has put numerous sectors in jeopardy and presented them with a variety of difficulties. Many firms are now accepting global investments such as Shufti Pro funding to overcome this.
Social Media Platform
Different protection measures are used by different social media networks to keep children protected from getting exposed. However, these regulations are insufficient, resulting in their appearance in court and the payment of hefty fines. When people create pages on social sites, all that is needed to confirm their age is a checkbox; no actual age checks are conducted. Children thus register on these sites, and individuals with nefarious intentions steal information to carry out their illicit gain. Thus, robust and online age verification is what fixes this issue.
E-commerce
Businesses were forced to use alternative methods of delivering their services and goods during COVID-19. All people had access to these things because they were available online. Age-restricted goods could be accessible by anyone, whether adults, kids, or minors, any time and anywhere. Performing age checks in the sector can help the e-commerce industry ensure that age-exclusive products are not sold to kids.
Tobacco E-stores
In the USA, it is against the legislation to sell tobacco to someone under 21 years of age. A campaign was launched in 2019 to educate all about the laws governing tobacco, adherence, and juvenile protection.
Regrettably, buying cigarettes online still isn’t a tricky task for kids under 18 years of age. However, by implementing age verification methods, these risks can be reduced for a successful KYCC.
Final Thoughts
Authorities in charge of regulation have made enough efforts to unify and simplify age verification rules around the world. To give children the best possible protection, COPPA is constantly upgrading its rules. To stop the abuse of children’s rights, further rules have been put in place. To prevent youngsters from accessing undesirable goods and services while adhering to laws and standards to minimize fines, companies must implement age verification systems.