Circumstances in Which Online Services Use Age Verification (2024)

Data represents the frequency of age verification (AV) triggers across 50 online service instances. Services often apply AV in multiple scenarios. This chart illustrates the triggers or circumstances under which age verification (AV) mechanisms are deployed, with data representing the percentage of instances within each specific digital service category. The data reveal that utilising AV "to access certain features" is the most widespread strategy, appearing in 70% of the categories and accounting for 50% of the triggers in the Social Media, Pornography, and Generative AI sectors. A significant trend emerges regarding the influence of regional regulations; verifying users "in certain geographic locations" is the dominant trigger for Gaming and App Stores (67%), and represents half of the triggers for Immersive environments and Generative AI (50%). Furthermore, the data highlight a heavily reactive enforcement landscape in specific sectors: Random live video chat relies exclusively on AV "on appeal" (100%), a method that also accounts for 40% of the triggers used by Social Media platforms following account suspensions. The data also underscore the rarity of proactive safety measures. Verification "at registration" is the primary method for only two categories: it is the exclusive trigger for "For kids" services (100%), but represents only 14% of the triggers in the Dating sector. Similarly, triggering AV due to "suspicious activity" remains a marginal practice, appearing only in Pornography (17%) and Dating (14%).