This year has become the vision glass for forecasting the rest of the decade. The rise of technological change has made it possible for everyone to access products and services from the comfort of their own homes. According to some analysts, the amount of services and goods that have shifted to internet access has accelerated the digital revolution, which has turned the market highly unpredictable. Due to the fact that the prevalence of smartphones and online streaming channels, entertainment, communication, and other activities frequently take place without adult intervention. As per Shufti Pro Funding, 2 billion individuals used online buying sites in 2020 and the worldwide revenue was around $4.2 trillion in 2021.
Age Verification and Digital Business
With the majority of companies and brands shifting their services online, recent surveys discovered that more than half of the firms do not have a comprehensive age verification system at the time of checkout or shipping. However, how can age confirmation for businesses that provide age-restricted goods or services be accomplished?
Internet gaming platforms and streaming networks have seen a significant increase in online transactions, while more and more money transfers are conducted online, it has never been more convenient for minors to buy things and acquire age-restricted content and services. For several digital businesses, age verification is a regulatory obligation. According to Shufti Pro News, since Covid-19, traffic for the online grocery shopping market has increased by 110%.
A lot of digital companies and networks carry out primitive age inspections, such as ‘check boxes’ allowing customers to affirm that they meet the age criteria that are required to buy goods and access desired services and that the customer is responsible but we are all aware of how ineffective and unreliable these things are. Allowing children to make adult profiles is a tremendous mistake since it gives them access to websites and stuff they should not be seeing.
Age Verification Regulations in Different Jurisdictions
Germany is amping its position on kids’ safety. Digital gaming and gambling businesses must guarantee that they have the required measures and limitations in place to stop young individuals from accessing their services since July 2021. In the United Kingdom, the Gambling Commission is holding a public consultation on the necessity for online gambling businesses to perform age checks for persons making bets as well as for those who take part in ‘free-to-play’ variants of these platforms.
Importance of Age Verification in Online Business
Digital businesses must recognize the necessity of age verification in the same manner that real-life’ retail stores and gaming establishments do. An efficient identity verification solution that ensures compliance is required for organizations that provide age-restricted goods or services via digital portals. Aside from that, age verification is vital not just for preventing youngsters from accessing hazardous information, but also for retargeting real clients. This reduces the cost of recruiting the correct consumer while also improving the user experience.
With automated identity verification, the customer’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data, like name, location, and date of birth, are gathered with their permission and then compared against various data sources to check whether the data matches or not. This assists businesses in developing confidence that the onboarding consumer is who they claim to be.
Businesses are utilizing age verification solution and technologies that are simple for customers to use and do not have a complex design or programming delays, which can ruin a business’s traffic and conversions.
With age confirmation for digital companies, underage customers will be prevented from acquiring things they should not be able to obtain, whilst legal individuals will be able to purchase age-restricted goods without additional difficulty. This decreases firms’ vulnerability to potential liability and fraud.
Online Age Verification During Customer Onboarding
Furthermore, an effective identification and verification mechanism would be provided through a digital onboarding system. The consumer snaps a picture and uploads a photo of his or her official ID there. The photo is crossmatched to the one on the government-issued ID card, and they are only granted access to the network after passing this verification process. These identity validation systems, in addition to providing age checks compliance requirements, also provide a measure for preventing fraud. Because online identification is quick and simple for customers to complete, it enables them to continue with their money transfer without being bothered by additional processes to establish their identity. It also relies on the government ID information source to confirm the provided ID.
Conclusion
With the legal environment shifting, a pop-up screen asking if a website user is over the age of 18 does not serve as an age check and it should no longer be adequate to demonstrate due diligence. Businesses should ensure that their e-KYC protocols are enough to prevent youngsters from viewing age-restricted material.