Recital 50

The assessment of the user’s age is necessary for the effective implementation of the obligations laid down in this Regulation concerning registration with online social networking services, video-sharing platforms that are subject to a minimum age, access to age-inappropriate software applications and ensuring a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors through safety by design measures. The methods used should be accurate (such accuracy should be regularly assessed against appropriate, clear and publicly available metrics, under real-life circumstances and allow for correct determination of a user meeting the age threshold), reliable (for a method to be reliable, it should come from a reliable source, be available continuously at any time, and work in different real-world circumstances), robust (it should not be easy to circumvent), and should not be intrusive (not requiring recipients of the service to disclose their identity, precise age or other personal data where establishing that a relevant age threshold has been reached is sufficient) nor discriminatory (the chosen method should be appropriate and available for all users regardless of disability, language, ethnic, gender, religious and minority backgrounds). Where age assurance solutions do not meet these requirements, they should not be deemed compliant with this Regulation. Mere self-declaration by recipients of the service is not a sufficient age assurance solution for the purpose of compliance with this Regulation, and should not, on its own, be considered an appropriate nor effective measure when the protection of minors requires a reliable determination of age.