Here’s a fun fact: around 80% of children living in the developed world have a digital footprint before they are two years old due to their family members’ digital lives. Think ultrasound photos, even before the children are born.
By the age of 11, 53% of US children own a smartphone, and by their teenage years, 84% have one of their own.
With stats like those, and the ever-increasing number of cyberattacks, online scams and other types of fraud, adopting, improving and enforcing child protection and child privacy laws has become of utmost importance to all parties involved: the companies, the governments, the parents, and the children.
That being said, let’s look into the current state of these laws and regulations around the world.
Children Privacy Laws Around the World: A Time of Change
We’re currently in the time of change where regulators around the world are quickly adopting new children privacy laws in keeping up with the digital age, and that’s a great thing.
In 2020, only 10% of the world’s population had its personal data covered under modern privacy regulations. However, Gartner estimates that by 2023, this number will increase to 65% and we, for one, are very happy about that.
In the European Union, the notorious GDPR regulates the main child privacy and protection issues, namely the age of consent, but it’s important to note that individual member states can adopt their own amendments.
With that, GDPR stipulates 16 as the minimum age of consent, but member states are free to trim that down to 13. As an example, Germany has put into force 16 as the age of consent, while Denmark has brought theirs down to thirteen.
If your business interacts with EU nationals, my advice is to double check the local laws to determine the age of consent. I’m sure we’d all like to avoid the draconian fines.
On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, we have COPPA or Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 which has been in effect since 2000, that requires companies to get consent about collecting any information from the children’s parents.
From there, many countries and regions around the world have their own regulations. But, it’s important to note that the majority of these function on the same principles:
– Inform yourself and enforce the varying age of consent
– Know that children use your platform, even if it isn’t intended for them
– Don’t keep, use or share children’s data, and don’t advertise to them unless you have explicit consent from their parents
– If you decide to try to get consent from the parents, ensure that it is verifiable, and have an easy way of blocking minors if the consent isn’t truthful
Fairly clear, although it seems that this will not only deteriorate your user experience, but directly impact your bottom line as well. But the thing is: this doesn’t have to be the case.
Protecting Children’s Personal Data without Compromising Business: What You Should Do
Upon downloading the app, the child just wants to play. The company just wants to convert.
And in cases like these, we often get frustrated children who try to circumvent the age wall. That’s when your company needs to implement a system to keep both the child and your business protected.
The good news is that with smart implementation of authentication and phone verification solutions, it’s possible to protect the children, the vulnerable, and your business. That’s where mobile IP address-based authentication solutions come into play.
The majority of these seamlessly verify and authenticate users using a unique client or mobile ID key that’s made up of the data your mobile network operator already possesses: your phone number, device data and mobile IP address.
More importantly, these solutions don’t require that you actually transfer any of that data to complete the verification process, therefore removing the risks of any personal data leakage and huge fines that come with it – especially if some of your users turn out to be children who are trying to cheat the system.
Usually, these solutions will also provide mKYC through the mobile network operator that the mobile app developer can integrate into the app through an API or SDK, enabling them to verify the age of the subscriber and stay compliant with the law. mKYC is a mobile Know-Your-Customer solution that leverages the direct connection with a telecom and its CRM systems to verify the users’ identities upon explicit consent through form pre-fill or data match.
Mobile IP address-based authentication solutions help developers ensure no minors get around the age wall. Now, it’s up to them to act responsibly and do everything in their power to enforce the law on their platform. It may be an investment, but one well worth it: not only does it protect your business from huge fines, but it also helps establish trust and rakes in more revenue.
