While some would like a more uniform system, or a universal arbiter of age, we believe that liability and responsibility rest with every service owner — the developer, the publisher, the app creator — because they know what they are offering. You don’t expect the credit card company to check if you are old enough to buy alcohol; the store should do that.
However, Google is helping by adopting standards and open-sourcing technology to make it safer and easier to adopt privacy-preserving age checks.
In our own services, we’ve used machine learning-based age estimation in Europe since 2020:
- Safer by default: We apply baseline protections until we have confidence the user is an adult (e.g. age restricting mature content on YouTube/Google Play).
- Assurance trigger: If a user declares they are 18 or older, we run their account information through our model to confirm their age.
- Extra protections: If we can’t confirm they are an adult, we enable features including SafeSearch and wellbeing tools.
- Verifying when needed: If we haven’t confirmed they are an adult but they want access to mature content, we provide verification methods such as selfies, government IDs, or credit cards.
We look forward to sharing how others can employ similar approaches.
Universal verification’s hidden costs
Here’s what few Europeans want: requiring everyone (not only children) to provide IDs to access the internet.
Requiring verification across all services threatens to undermine privacy and exclude people without IDs. Worse, it could create a false sense of security, letting companies off the hook from investing in safeguards and age-appropriate experiences.
We view proposals to restrict access in much the same way. Blanket restrictions run the risk of obscuring the real issues, a danger recognized by a diverse range of voices — from human rights and family safety groups to parents, teens, and educators — who would like to make the digital world better for young people, not off limits to them.
By bringing together so many different voices today in Brussels, we hope to spark new ideas and promote healthy digital practices for Europeans of all ages.
