#age-verification

#age-verification

The bill zeroes in on prediction market platforms that let users buy and sell positions on future events through a bid-ask system. Topics can range from elections to economic indicators. The legislation draws clear boundaries, explicitly excluding sports wagering, online casino gaming, internet games, and traditional securities or commodities trading already governed by existing law. If approved, the measure would make it illegal for any prediction market platform operating in Connecticut to allow a resident under 21 to register or open a speculative position.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has imposed a £247,590 penalty on MediaLab.AI, Inc, concluding that the company allowed children to access Imgur for years without putting in place even basic age-checking safeguards required under UK data protection law. Following a long-running investigation, the regulator found that MediaLab failed to establish the age of Imgur users, processed the personal data of children under 13 without parental consent, and did not carry out a data protection impact assessment to identify or mitigate risks to younger users.

As reported by Politico, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced that social platforms will soon be required to implement effective age verification systems, in order to stop young teens from accessing their apps. And to some degree, that does seem to be working. Meta says that it's which it believes belong to young users, while Snapchat has restricted 415k accounts.

No longer is gambling confined to Las Vegas casinos. A 2018 landmark ruling by the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize sports betting, opening the doors to new types of online gambling and games of chance. 'Young boys are largely being pulled into this universe online by algorithmically sent messages,' said Steyer of online games that include chances to open loot boxes and 'win' a prize. 'It seems so innocent, but in fact, it's no different than going into a casino and putting down five or $20 on a hand of blackjack.'

Kupper, who sponsored Arizona's age verification law, tells WIRED he stuck to the one-third threshold because it's been previously upheld by the United States Supreme Court. He says he's heard estimates that 15 to 25 percent of accounts on X are at least somewhat pornographic, but he's not sure how accurate that is, nor does he think it's "feasible" to analyze such ratios on every website. X did not respond to questions about what percentage of the platform it considers pornographic.

OpenAI has added age prediction features to ChatGPT, meant to identify and bolster protections for underage users. These age detection plans were announced in December alongside updated guidelines for interacting with teens, and follow a rise in similar age-gating efforts from online platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Roblox. ChatGPT's age prediction model works by examining behavioral and account-level signals, including a user's stated age, how old the account is, when the user is active, and usage patterns over time.

The AI business is beginning a global rollout of an age prediction tool to determine whether or not a user is a minor. "The model looks at a combination of behavioral and account-level signals, including how long an account has existed, typical times of day when someone is active, usage patterns over time,and a user's stated age," the company's announcement states.

In the coming weeks, we will begin to roll out enhanced technology in Europe to further support how our moderation teams detect and remove accounts that belong to someone under the age of 13. This follows an initial pilot in Europe over the last year, which led to the removal of thousands of additional underage accounts.

One is the feedback that we've had from parents saying, thank you for doing this, this has made a difference in our household, he said. The second is from young people themselves. There's a lot of younger people that I've spoken to who speak about, gee, we wish that was in place when I was 13 or 14. It's making a difference to my younger brother or sister'.