As Europe considers ways to restrict minors’ access to certain content, Meta offers a unique solution. Meanwhile, U.S. states are grappling with the First Amendment implications of implementing age verification on porn sites.
Meta wants Google and Apple to take over age verification in Europe
Meta called for the introduction of age verification across Europe and proposed ways to do so. The company says: “We want to ensure that parents only need to verify their child’s age once, and the most effective way to achieve this is by checking with your operating system or app store. “It’s about completing the process.”
The move would shift responsibility for age verification from social media platforms to companies like Apple and Google. Other platforms have also made arguments in favor of this solution, including Twitter and Match, the company behind dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid.
Mr Mehta made the statement on Tuesday at a hearing of an Irish parliamentary committee focused on children’s rights. Irish state broadcaster RTE reports that the company has been invited to appear alongside TikTok before the Oireachtas Children’s Committee to discuss protecting children from online threats using artificial intelligence.
AI systems are used to remove content related to bullying and harassment on Facebook. But Mehta said AI is not yet effective enough to reduce bullying and harassment because it can be “situational.”
The company faces similar complaints across the Atlantic, with a group of U.S. attorneys general suing MetaPlatform and Instagram for ignoring the psychological harm that stems from the use of the social platforms.
Meta has taken a variety of approaches to ease pressure from global regulators on age verification issues. The company has been testing British company Yoti’s facial age estimation technology in several countries.
US: Rights groups say access to pornography is a First Amendment right
As more U.S. states enact laws requiring age verification to access porn sites, porn distributors and civil rights activists say the new regulations could violate constitutional rights. I’m against it.
Last week, the Free Speech Coalition, a group representing the adult entertainment industry, petitioned the Supreme Court to block a Texas law requiring age verification to access porn sites. Its main argument is that the law violates the First Amendment rights of adults by burdening access to protected speech and unreasonably invading privacy.
Similar claims were made by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in early April. Human rights groups reminded that courts have “repeatedly struck down laws that impose burdensome requirements on adults to access non-obscene sexual content in the name of protecting children.” This includes laws regulating everything from drive-in movies to video games to websites.
In March, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas law is constitutional because the state has a compelling interest in protecting minors from pornography. But the Free Speech Coalition said the ruling contradicted previous Supreme Court precedent, which said adults should not face unduly burdensome restrictions to protect children from “harmful” content. Reason magazine reports that.
Porn distributors say the consequences of these “onerous restrictions” are already being seen. Adult entertainment platform Pornhub has already withdrawn from six U.S. states in response to the enactment of age verification laws, and is considering a seventh, Florida.
Kansas age verification law gets green light from governor
Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed a law that would force websites with nude or sexually explicit images or text to require age verification to limit access by minors. It was decided not to activate it. But the governor warned that this “well-intentioned” effort “is vague in its application and could result in violations of constitutional rights.”
Despite these reservations, the decision means Senate Bill 394 will become law without a signature, the Kansas Reflector reported. This law allows a parent or guardian of a child under the age of 18 who accesses online porn to sue a company for damages of $50,000 or more, but does not allow a minor to access sexual content or nudity. access is not prevented.
If the new bill passes, Kansas could join a growing number of U.S. states enacting age verification laws starting in 2022. This includes Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Utah, and Virginia. Lawmakers have introduced proposals in more than 20 other states, according to APN News Tracker.
Louisiana shows how digital ID can help verify age
Efforts by U.S. states to introduce age verification software as a way to prevent minors from accessing pornography have so far had limited success. Instead of complying with the new mandate, many porn sites simply opted to block their websites in each state. However, there is one success story in Louisiana, one of the first states to legally recognize the digital driver’s license (mDL) as a public identification document.
Louisiana’s LA Wallet app, previously used during the coronavirus pandemic, is now being used to access pornography. Pornhub’s parent company Aylo (formerly MindGeek) has chosen to use an anonymous remote age verification service, LA Wallet A-RAV, to vet users on its website.
This service is performed through a third-party app created and operated by the software company Envoc. When a user visits a pornographic website, a pop-up appears asking for age verification. Envoc President Calvin Fabre told industry publication Government Technology that users enter a code provided by a third-party app into LA Waller.
“LA Wallet does not know the originating website, it only knows that the compliance company is requesting anonymous age verification through the LA Wallet system,” Fabre says.
Louisiana passed a law in 2022 requiring age verification for adult websites. When this law took effect in January 2023, the number of subscribers to LA Wallet doubled compared to the previous month, jumping from 30,000 to 67,000. Favre said LA Wallet has completed more than 2.9 million remote age verification sessions to date.
Envoc is also working on a new facial age estimation app, adding new use cases to LA Wallet.
Article topics
Age Verification | Biometrics | Digital ID | Europe | Kansas | Louisiana | mDL | Meta | Social Media | America
