Businesses are in a race to get as many customers as they can. In the age of social media, entities are considered successful if they have a big number of online customers. Running in the race, companies want to onboard everyone that comes to their platform. But not every business enjoys this luxury and nor should they. Industries like alcohol, tobacco, and online gambling that make products for a specific group of individuals and expand their business yearly have to be very careful while working digitally. A report states that in 2020, the global market size of alcoholic beverages amounted to over 1.49 trillion U.S dollars. Policymakers have designed age verification laws for such industries to abide by.
Any “prohibited or only allowed to adults” product requires to be sold under strict checks. In the real world, casinos and alcohol bars have employees that verify individuals’ age before allowing them entrance to the place. Certain drug sellers also practice investigation to ensure that they are selling the product to legitimate consumers. Exercising digital age checks can prove to be a little tricky but by employing the right tools, businesses can ease their work.
Age Verification
The Age verification solution is used by companies that sell age-restricted goods or products. Like gambling, where minors cannot access the physical place, restricting them from online gambling sites can only be possible with the help of age checks. Similarly, consumption of tobacco, alcohol and e-cigarettes can never be allowed to minors in any case.
Compliance professionals only allow merchants with age-oriented products to stay in the market if they comply with developed regulations. To sustain in the market and to perform work legally, age-restricted industries are compelled to follow age laws.
Alcohol and tobacco industries are also ethically and morally liable to stop minors from getting exposed to adult-oriented content. Children when once taste the exposure of adult-based content it becomes difficult to stop them from doing it again. Therefore, the liability lies on the vendors’ shoulders to restrict minors to age-appropriate content.
Biometric Age Verification To Verify Individuals
The UK government has passed the bill to prevent minors from online harm by introducing biometric age verification checks. The bill composed plans to verify users for online digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and youtube. Research conducted by Ofcom indicated that children of the age group 12 to 15 years experienced at least one harmful event during their online proceedings.
Bill enclosed the summary that the minimum age of children to access social media platforms to be 12 or above. To ensure it, individuals may be asked to upload identification for verification.
Some websites require their users to be above 13. Different platforms have different age thresholds depending upon the content they have for their users. Government officials and global compliance professionals design laws for age-restricted businesses to ensure minors do not become victims of any identity theft.
Harms that Millennials May Face Because of Age-Restricted Websites
Think of the way guardians protect their children in an offline world. Parents never want their young ones to be exposed to anything above their age. Similar goes for the online platforms. As it is not possible for parents to observe their children’s every digital activity, the responsibility lies more on the owners of such websites. Following are some of the negative effects that minors may become victims of while using the adult-oriented content:
Once underage individuals become part of a gambling platform, due to its pleasure-giving and instant money-making tactics, they may become gamblers for a lifetime.
Alcohol and tobacco websites can damage the health of children forever. Consumption of alcohol is banned in many countries even for grown-ups as well. The harm and the fact that consumers may become addicted for a lifetime, alcohol is considered as lethal for young people.
Inappropriate content for children can cause a gloomy impact on the mental and emotional well-being of children. They may have nightmares if the content was very vivid.
The most significant fact is that exposure to inappropriate content before a certain age can cost their innocence. Children are the future of any nation. They should be handled carefully. Stealing their innocence can result in a changed behaviour which definitely impacts their life.
Conclusion
Today’s generation driven by the internet is unstoppable when it comes to using digital platforms. Every kind of material is present on the internet and the affordability of mobile phones has made it difficult to monitor minors’ digital activities. Age-verification solutions are helping websites selling age-exclusive content to verify individuals based on their age. With the help of age checks, it becomes easy to restrict minors to age-appropriate content that would save them from various online frauds.
I was hoping the article would talk about what the solution was. Instead, you mostly talk about that it exists and it's important. But what actually is it and how does it work?