{"id":5553,"date":"2019-02-19T13:33:27","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T13:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/?p=5553"},"modified":"2019-09-23T13:10:33","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T13:10:33","slug":"its-time-dating-sites-took-responsibility-for-age-gating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/its-time-dating-sites-took-responsibility-for-age-gating","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time dating sites took responsibility for age-gating"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 2019 and we\u2019re still talking about age-gating. Last week, Tinder and Grindr were in the spotlight after a report from the Sunday Times showed children as young as eight were listed on dating apps, and detectives have investigated more than 30 incidents of child abuse and rape, linked to dating sites. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s still so easy for people to fake their age online. We can\u2019t rely on people to be truthful; lying about age is just something people do. Children always want to be older and adults always want to be younger. At 12, you say you\u2019re 15. At 15, you say you\u2019re 18. At 40, you say you\u2019re 35. <\/span><\/p>\n

The difference is that when you\u2019re young, you don\u2019t necessarily think about the consequences of lying about your age. So as adults, it\u2019s our responsibility to protect children, even when they don\u2019t know they need it. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been talking to brands and sites about the tricky issue of age-gating, or age verification, for as long as I\u2019ve been in social media. What\u2019s changed in the last 10 or so years is that technology has moved on and while no system is perfect, there are systems now that put checks in place that are far more sophisticated than simply asking someone what year they were born. <\/span><\/p>\n

As ever, the industries with the most to lose – particularly gambling and alcohol where companies could lose their licence to operate if they\u2019re associated with under-age use – are leading the way. Financial services companies<\/a>, too, use ID verification technology to prove customers are who they say they are (some are asking customers to use their own smartphones to take a selfie and then a photo of their ID – a really simple way to verify identity). Age verification hubs (such as Yoti) – where you provide your ID once and then use the app to prove your age to multiple sites – are becoming more widely used. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s really no excuse not to invest in these new technologies to provide age gates to younger users. We\u2019re not talking about small sites with shallow pockets, here. Protecting young users from harm is society\u2019s collective responsibility, of course. But the burden falls particularly heavily on those sites who are actively putting young people in potentially dangerous situations. <\/span><\/p>\n

After all, if The Sunday Times can find out the ages of young users on dating sites, presumably so can the sites themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more insights on our blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 2019 and we\u2019re still talking about age-gating. Last week, Tinder and Grindr were in the spotlight after a report from the Sunday Times showed children as young as eight were listed on dating apps, and detectives have investigated more than 30 incidents of child abuse and rape, linked to dating sites. It\u2019s still so…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":11447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/julia-caesar-15078-unsplash-1-1024x683-1.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Genuine-Humans.jpg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/3abc34c3-ff60-4a78-b347-6119461b7ed1\/GENUINE-HUMANS","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/genuine-humans\/id1561811296","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVzb2NpYWxlbGVtZW50LmFnZW5jeS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Q?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwiQz-mM7dzvAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/7jkfw0qeUlwrauhfy2pCGU","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/feed\/podcast","embedCode":"

It\u2019s time dating sites took responsibility for age-gating<\/a><\/blockquote>