TikTok's New Age Verification System: A Compromise or a Recipe for Disaster?
Governments worldwide are cracking down on social media companies to prevent minors from accessing platforms, with some calling for outright bans and others advocating for more nuanced approaches. TikTok has taken a middle ground by implementing an age-detection system across Europe, which relies on a combination of profile data, content analysis, and behavioral signals to identify potential underage users.
While the new system may seem like a better solution than automatic banning of youth accounts, experts warn that it still requires social platforms to surveil users more closely. This approach has raised concerns about digital surveillance, with some arguing that it undermines user privacy without providing clear evidence that it improves youth safety.
"This is a fancy way of saying that TikTok will be surveilling its users' activities and making inferences about them," says Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University. "Users probably aren't thrilled about this extra surveillance, and any false positives—like incorrectly identifying an adult as a child—will have potentially major consequences for the wrongly identified user."
The European Union's approach is seen as a test bed for global defaults, with other countries taking note. However, implementing age verification systems on a large scale poses significant challenges.
"Organizationally, we believe that the road they're going down in Australia is the right approach in terms of having a social media delay," says Lloyd Richardson, director of technology at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. "We shouldn't really put the trust of what's developmentally appropriate into the hands of big technology companies. We need to look at developmental experts to answer those questions."
As policymakers grapple with the complexities of online child safety, they must also navigate the darker side of social media regulation. Jess Miers, an assistant professor at the University of Akron School of Law, warns that without a federal privacy law, there are no meaningful guardrails on how this data is stored, shared, or abused.
"The legal exposure is significantly higher in the US," she says. "Here, the First Amendment litigation can be a real challenge to implementing effective age verification systems."
Ultimately, TikTok's approach may be viable under EU regulatory frameworks, but it's much harder to see it working in the US without significant reforms to protect user data and prevent misuse.
"The people do a lot of fearmongering when it comes to age verification," Richardson says. "But there are absolutely ways to do age verification without AI face scanning, without the disclosure of personal information."
As the debate around online child safety continues, one thing is clear: policymakers must strike a balance between protecting minors and respecting users' rights to privacy and free expression. Whether TikTok's new system is a compromise or a recipe for disaster remains to be seen, but one thing is certain – the stakes are high, and the consequences of failure will be severe.
Governments worldwide are cracking down on social media companies to prevent minors from accessing platforms, with some calling for outright bans and others advocating for more nuanced approaches. TikTok has taken a middle ground by implementing an age-detection system across Europe, which relies on a combination of profile data, content analysis, and behavioral signals to identify potential underage users.
While the new system may seem like a better solution than automatic banning of youth accounts, experts warn that it still requires social platforms to surveil users more closely. This approach has raised concerns about digital surveillance, with some arguing that it undermines user privacy without providing clear evidence that it improves youth safety.
"This is a fancy way of saying that TikTok will be surveilling its users' activities and making inferences about them," says Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University. "Users probably aren't thrilled about this extra surveillance, and any false positives—like incorrectly identifying an adult as a child—will have potentially major consequences for the wrongly identified user."
The European Union's approach is seen as a test bed for global defaults, with other countries taking note. However, implementing age verification systems on a large scale poses significant challenges.
"Organizationally, we believe that the road they're going down in Australia is the right approach in terms of having a social media delay," says Lloyd Richardson, director of technology at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. "We shouldn't really put the trust of what's developmentally appropriate into the hands of big technology companies. We need to look at developmental experts to answer those questions."
As policymakers grapple with the complexities of online child safety, they must also navigate the darker side of social media regulation. Jess Miers, an assistant professor at the University of Akron School of Law, warns that without a federal privacy law, there are no meaningful guardrails on how this data is stored, shared, or abused.
"The legal exposure is significantly higher in the US," she says. "Here, the First Amendment litigation can be a real challenge to implementing effective age verification systems."
Ultimately, TikTok's approach may be viable under EU regulatory frameworks, but it's much harder to see it working in the US without significant reforms to protect user data and prevent misuse.
"The people do a lot of fearmongering when it comes to age verification," Richardson says. "But there are absolutely ways to do age verification without AI face scanning, without the disclosure of personal information."
As the debate around online child safety continues, one thing is clear: policymakers must strike a balance between protecting minors and respecting users' rights to privacy and free expression. Whether TikTok's new system is a compromise or a recipe for disaster remains to be seen, but one thing is certain – the stakes are high, and the consequences of failure will be severe.
i mean who wants more surveillance on their fave social media platform tho 
idk what's better, being banned from tiktok or having to deal with all these extra security measures 
can we just have a simple way to prove ur age like, 18+ or something? 
and btw what even is the point of this new system if it's just gonna make tiktoks life harder in the us? 
. Like, what if a 16-year-old is just hanging out with their friends online and it gets misinterpreted as them being underage? That could get pretty embarrassing for them! 
And what about people's right to privacy? Do we really want big tech companies snooping around on us like that? 
... dont get me wrong, i think its great that governments are taking online child safety seriously, but shouldn't we be focusing on educating kids about how to use social media safely instead of relying on companies like tiktok to do it for us? 
. Like, can't we just trust people to behave online without needing some AI nanny watching over them? And what's with all this fuss about "false positives" - I mean, come on, if you're an adult trying to use TikTok like everyone else, shouldn't that be your own problem? 
. I guess it's good to see some experts speaking out about the importance of human judgment (aka developmental experts) over tech companies trying to solve everything with code 
. But seriously, can we please just have a federal privacy law that doesn't leave us all hanging? The lack of regulation is giving me major anxiety 
.
. We can't just rely on big tech companies to regulate themselves, they're already pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable online 
.
. either you do it right or you don't at all 
. why can't we just focus on creating a safe space for actual minors instead of surveilling everyone else? 
but honestly idk if it's gonna work... i mean it's basically just using algorithms to detect underage users which is kinda creepy 
like how can we trust these tech companies to have our backs? 
especially when it comes to things like AI face scanning 
and just what exactly are they gonna do with all this personal info? 
It's like, one mistake and someone's life is messed with 
.