We shared back in February that we would soon introduce technology that would distinguish between younger users and adults. Over the next few weeks, we’ll begin to roll out age assurance to a small set of users in the U.S. to help us further protect young people as they use Google products. We’ll closely monitor this before we roll it out more widely. These measures, which we’ve already implemented in select markets where it’s worked well, are designed to recognize users who are either over or under 18 so that we can provide more age-appropriate experiences for those younger than 18.
This is just one part of our broader commitment to online safety for young users and families. We’ve continually invested in technology, policies and literacy resources to better protect kids and teens across our platforms. Our approach includes providing automatic safeguards for users under 18 with default settings and protections, expanding parental controls through Family Link and creating dedicated, age-appropriate experiences like YouTube Kids.
Our age-appropriate protections in the U.S.
For users we identify to be under 18, we’ll automatically provide our existing enhanced protections to ensure age-appropriate experiences, such as:
- Turning on YouTube Digital Wellbeing tools like reminders to take a break and go to bed, and adding safeguards to content recommendations, including limiting repetitive views of some kinds of content.
- Disabling Timeline in Maps.
- Disabling personalized advertising and restricting age-sensitive ad categories.
- Preventing users we recognize as minors from accessing apps restricted to adults on Google Play.
How age assurance works
When our tools estimate a user might be younger than 18, we’ll notify them via email and as they use Google products. These notifications explain how their settings have changed, and how adults can verify their age to manage these settings themselves.
Age assurance helps us ensure that adults can access the information and services they need, while also applying the right protections for our younger users. Our approach to age assurance uses a combination of age estimation and, when necessary, age verification.
- Age estimation: Our age estimation model uses machine learning to interpret a variety of signals already associated with a user’s account, such as the types of information a user has searched for or the categories of videos they’ve watched on YouTube. These signals help us determine whether a user is likely over or under the age of 18.
- Age verification: If we incorrectly estimate a user to be under 18, the user has the option to correct their age, including by uploading a photo of their government ID or a selfie.
A collaborative effort for online safety
Age assurance technology is becoming more widely available, and we’re encouraged to see its increasing adoption by other companies in recent months. We’ve designed our approach with user privacy in mind and it does not involve collecting additional data or sharing granular user information with all apps and websites. We believe that a truly safer online environment requires input and investment from players across the entire ecosystem. We are committed to taking this important step to help ensure children have age-appropriate, privacy-preserving experiences across our platforms.
