Reddit and Discord are now in trouble over the use of a third-party age verification service, Persona. Reddit has been fined £14.5 million ($19.5M) by the UK’s watchdog for unlawful use of children’s data. Meanwhile, Discord faced a serious user backlash. For context, the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) requires online platforms to verify the age of users on their platform. They also need to ensure that children do not encounter harmful content.
Reddit and Discord face backlash over the use of an age verification service, Persona
BBC News reports that the UK’s privacy watchdog investigated Reddit and found that it failed to do the age verification checks properly. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said that the platform failed to properly check the age of its users, thereby putting children using Reddit at risk of being exposed to inappropriate and harmful content online.
The company reportedly used an outside firm called Persona. This service checks either an uploaded selfie or a photo of a government ID. Reddit said that it did so because it doesn’t want to have first-hand knowledge of its users’ identities. ICO argued that these checks were flawed, classifying many children as adults, and that Reddit was therefore illegally processing data from children.
Discord distances itself from the service
On the other hand, Discord also used the same company for age-vertification. It quickly faced backlash from users who pointed out that Persona may be accessing government records. The Verge reports that users across social media accused Discord of “lying” about how it plans on handling user data. The main concern here is Discord’s partnership with Persona. Users have issues with Persona’s privacy policy. The policy says that it may access personal data from users through “third-party databases, government records, and other publicly available sources.”
Following the backlash from users, Discord is distancing itself from age-verification provider, Persona. In an emailed statement to The Verge, Discord’s head of product policy, Savannah Badalich, confirmed that the company “ran a limited test of Persona in the UK where age assurance had previously launched and that test has since concluded.”
Age-verification is a sensitive area where privacy concerns are at play, especially with third-party services. There has been a growing demand to make Apple and Google legally responsible for age verification and then put age-appropriate restrictions on app downloads. This is already the case in some states in the US, like California.
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