When age verification is discussed at a conference on trust and safety on the Internet, it is easy to assume that the confidentiality of the data used in such procedures is the issue. Surprisingly, however, the focus at TrustCon is much more on the contribution that age verification can make to a safe and age-appropriate online experience for minors. Specifically, the focus is on the reliability of various methods, which are categorised under the umbrella term of age assurance as age verification, age estimation and self-declaration. After the Australian government announced a ban on various social media platforms for under-16s, which will come into force on 11 December 2025, more than 50 different services were examined this year in a large-scale process with regard to the reliability of the age verification results; the ease of use and resilience to attempts at deception or unlawful circumvention and the protection of users' privacy were also examined. In order to ensure a high level of protection, platform providers such as the Meta Group and SnapChat or TikTok currently rely on analysing usage behaviour, communication content and contacts to determine the age of young people on their services, accepting a certain degree of imprecision in the results. However, the results of the Australian Trial show that it is possible to achieve a high level of reliability in the results while minimising data for verification procedures that draw on existing data from authorised bodies - such as banks or health insurance companies - without compromising the privacy and anonymity of users.
Confidence in the security of the procedures among both users and service providers is an important prerequisite for using age verification as a cornerstone of a secure online experience in the future.