Age verification
Also known as: Age estimation · Age assurance · Age check · Age gating
Confirming that a person meets the minimum age required for a service — by document, by an authoritative record, or by biometric estimation from the face — without necessarily revealing their exact age.
Legal basis
ISO/IEC 27566-1 — Age assurance systems
There are two approaches, with different guarantees. Verification reads the date of birth from a document or an authoritative record: exact, but it requires full identification. Age estimation infers the age range from the face, with no document — less precise, but enough to keep a minor out of an adult service while collecting less data. Standards such as ISO/IEC 27566 address this broader idea of age assurance.
In the US the pressure has come from a wave of state laws requiring adult-content and, increasingly, social-media sites to confirm that users are of age, and from COPPA, which governs the online collection of data from children under 13. The challenge is to check age without turning every visit into a full identity record — hence the interest in estimation, which answers "is this person over 18?" without storing who they are.
Frequently asked questions
Is age verification the same as age estimation?
No. Verification reads the date of birth from a document or authoritative record — exact, but it identifies the person. Estimation infers the age range from the face, with no document — less precise, but enough to keep minors out while collecting less personal data.