New online age-verification tools could exclude lots of adults

Marketplace Tech

Earlier this year, the U.S. surgeon general called for a warning label minors on social media, and a growing number of states are requiring online age verification for certain sites. Now, many platforms are adding a safeguard that comes with its own set of trade-offs: facial scanning. These systems use artificial intelligence to analyze visual clues, sometimes in conjunction with a government-issued ID, to keep those it deems too young from accessing a site. In the process, they collect all kinds of identifying data, and like any tool, these are susceptible to errors. In this case, errors could potentially bar adults from parts of the internet. Tech reporter Drew Harwell recently wrote about the proliferation of these systems and the risks that come with them for The Washington Post. He told Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino that they’re getting hard to avoid for internet users.