Interactive
PLAYER VERIFICATION AGECHECKED
AgeChecked: Consenting adults?
The UK’s Betting and Gaming Council has announced ground- breaking rules for the British gambling industry aimed at preventing under-18s from seeing their adverts online. Now the focus moves to how gigantic online advertising platforms, such as Google and Facebook, will facilitate the application of this policy
Alastair Graham, CEO, AgeChecked
Alastair Graham is the Founder and CEO of AgeChecked, the online age verification solutions provider. Alastair is an entrepreneur with over twenty years’ experience of launching businesses and solutions into regulated markets. Prior to founding AgeChecked, he spent ten years in the payments industry as co- founder of a prepaid card company and as CEO of a financial institution in the UK. Alastair has been closely involved with the development of age checking legislation in the UK. He is Co-Chair of the Age Verification Providers Association and sits on the Digital Policy Alliance Age Verification and Internet Safety Working Group. Alastair sat on the British Standards Institute’s Steering Committee, which produced the Publicly Available Specification of Online Age Checking.
In truth, Google and Facebook only guestimate the ages of their customers, or have to accept their word when they supply a date of birth to open an account. Tis forces advertisers to apply a wide margin for error in their demographic selection by aiming at those believed to be at least 25, and to apply other targeting safeguards to try to comply with regulations.
In a welcome change of emphasis, the nascent UK trade association for the regulated betting industry, which last year combined separate bodies for the casinos, bookmakers and remote operators, frequently describes itself as a ‘standards body’. It has also acquired the self- regulatory role of the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling, publishing the new rules in the Sixth Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising.
From the start of October, BGC members must ensure that all sponsored or paid for social media adverts must be targeted at consumers aged 25 and over unless the website can prove its adverts can be precisely targeted at over 18s – copying the “Challenge 25” concept from the hospitality industry (which is not surprising as the BGC’s accomplished and widely-respected chair, Brigid Simmonds OBE, is former CEO of the British Beer and Pub Association).
Te new code also includes a requirement that gambling ads appearing on search engines must make clear that they are for those aged 18 and
The allure of a Facebook or Tiktok account is more than enough to persuade a 10-year-old to deduct three from their year of birth. The consequence is that these platforms record a false age, and deem the child to have turned 18 several years too soon.
P130 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
over. In addition, the adverts themselves must also include safer gambling messages.
A particular focus of the announcement was YouTube. Users will have to use age-verified accounts before they can view gambling ads, which the BGC argues will guarantee that they cannot be seen by under-18s.
Tis is perhaps where the theory of the new policy may come up against the practical problem facing all advertisers of age-restricted products – none of the major tech platforms can convincingly distinguish between the children and adults who are viewing their content. You can open a new google account, supply a fake date of birth, and then access Youtube as an age- verified account.
Most social media sites set a minimum age of 13 – the age at which children in the UK are deemed capable of providing consent to their personal data being processed without a parent also approving – but this is generally enforced based on the claimed date of birth of new users. Te allure of a Facebook or Tiktok account is more than enough to persuade a ten-year-old to deduct three from their year of birth. While it may not be the end of the world for them to get an Instagram account a couple of years too soon, the consequence is that these platforms record a false age, and consequently deem the child to have turned 18 several years too soon.
Former shadow Secretary of State for Culture, and CEO of the BGC, Michael Dugher, appears to recognise this challenge: “It is vital that the big internet platforms honour their responsibilities to protect people online and we hope the Government will use its forthcoming Online Harms Bill to that effect.”
Te only safeguard at present is so-called ‘age-
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