{"id":624157,"date":"2026-04-22T19:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624157\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:24:08","slug":"avpa-plots-course-for-age-assurance-future-based-on-learnings-from-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624157\/","title":{"rendered":"AVPA plots course for age assurance future based on learnings from Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2025, few people on Earth logged as many travel miles as Iain Corby, the executive director of the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA<\/a>), which represents vendors in the digital age assurance industry. From Australia to Washington, DC to the UK, Corby has gone forth to fearlessly preach the facts about age assurance technology<\/a> to policymakers and legislative bodies. Attendees of the recent 2026 Global Age Assurance Standards Summit may have watched him challenge Meta executives in real time on the effectiveness of age controls for its AI chatbot. The same event recognized AVPA with an Age Assurance Industry Awar<\/a>d for its contributions to cross-sector communication.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, AVPA\u2019s work up to 2026 represents a place to start. Foundational work has now given way to the project of creating a sustainable private sector for online age checks, in a world that is increasingly asking for them. There is momentum on key principles and privacy models, like the double-blind architecture<\/a> required by French law and the use of zero knowledge proofs<\/a> (ZKPs). Reusable checks are the next frontier<\/a>, with providers across the board seeking interoperability and robust privacy safeguards. Questions remain about where device-level checks fit in the liability scheme. And the specter of government ID looms, causing ongoing concern about market advantage.<\/p>\n

Which is to say, Iain Corby has a lot of work to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cInteroperability is not the destination, it is the next phase of the market,\u201d Corby says during a presentation at the summit in Manchester, laying out AVPA\u2019s road map for the next two years.<\/p>\n

While interoperability unlocks greater competition through lower costs, less friction for users and stronger privacy, it also brings new challenges on the level of liability and accountability, as use cases and jurisdictions for age assurance continue to expand. Which they will: AVPA advocates\u00a0 for \u201cmaintaining broadly equivalent assurance expectations across functionally similar services, such as online computer gaming<\/a>,\u201d as a key to consistent protection outcomes.<\/p>\n

Age assurance, then, is becoming part of the critical infrastructure for the internet as a whole.<\/p>\n

Social media companies not following SMMA<\/p>\n

This week, AVPA published a report detailing its learnings from the early stage implementation of Australia\u2019s Social Media Minimum Age<\/a> (SMMA) requirement. The big takeaway is that the biggest challenge for age assurance is not technological, but behavioral, in that social media platforms aren\u2019t really holding up their end of the deal.<\/p>\n

Since the SMMA went live on December 10, 2025, evidence has accrued to confirm that \u201cmultiple technical approaches are capable of supporting effective age checks, with the effectiveness of outcomes so far determined primarily by governance frameworks, assurance standards and operational controls, rather than by the technological capability or any particular limitations of the age assurance systems being deployed.\u201d Configuration is a problem, with some platforms opting to prioritize low friction over effectiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are now concerning reports that many underage users retain access to social media accounts,\u201d says AVPA\u2019s report<\/a>. An issue for the industry is that perceived ineffectiveness of the law could be blamed on the tech, rather than on the social platforms and how they are implementing it. Yet it is clear who is dropping the ball<\/a>. According to new data from KJR Labs, the conformity assessment body involved in evaluations for the Age Assurance Technology Trial, 9 in 10 of the largest social media platforms are \u201cstill not routinely confirming self-declared ages for new accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are instead allowing anyone to open a new account, and then arguing that the combination of a self-declared age and their own internet age inference models<\/a> meets their legal obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this, the social platforms have found a convenient loophole in the language of age assurance, which is still evolving. Age inference is among the three methods described by the recent international standard for age assurance<\/a>, ISO\/IEC 27566-1, and social companies are positioning their algorithmic models, which harvest additional user data, as inference tools. In the UK, the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office (ICO) has begun making a point of distinguishing between these tools, which it calls \u201cprofiling\u201d tools, and age inference tech that consults a specific database to draw conclusions, rather than collecting and analyzing data on user behavioral patterns and other signals.<\/p>\n

Per AVPA\u2019s report, \u201cthese approaches lack transparency; they are very difficult to audit because it is so hard to replicate for use as test data, as its user behaviour that triggers intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n

AVPA calls for minimum accuracy benchmarks\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps anticipating further pushback from Big Tech, which wins if Australia\u2019s law is deemed a failure, AVPA is calling for even tighter controls on what constitutes a trusted age assurance provider. Hard numbers on accuracy are a long-standing ask from many in the age check sector. Now, AVPA says, is the time to lay down some concrete requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is now becoming clear that to sustain and strengthen early progress, not only are far more age checks of existing and new users required, but we believe the next step should be to add clearly articulated minimum accuracy benchmarks<\/a> for effective age assurance to the initial regulatory guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n

These should be supported by audit, certification and independent conformity assessment mechanisms, to \u201cdrive compliance rates upwards, improve comparability across providers and increase public confidence while preserving flexibility in technical pathways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking these steps, AVPA says, \u201cwill address the emerging variations in platform approaches we found in empirical research which commenced three months after the introduction of the delay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout more demanding rules, platforms in scope will never consistently deliver the level of protection intended by Australia\u2019s Parliament. The problem with Australia\u2019s social media delay is\u00a0not too much age assurance, but too little.\u201d<\/p>\n

A plea for more regulation<\/p>\n

It is perhaps not stressed enough that the biometric age assurance industry<\/a> wants more regulation. In many tech enterprises, regulation is seen as a barrier to innovation; for age assurance, it is part of the critical DNA of sustained trust.<\/p>\n

As such, AVPA\u2019s future includes advocating for technical practices surrounding credential integrity, account lifecycle management and reuse controls. \u201cGoing forward, regulation will benefit from additional expectations regarding credential protection, timebound validity with at least annual checks (more often for accounts flagged as suspicious) and reliable reuse, including explicit support for interoperable privacy-preserving tokenized credentials.\u201d<\/p>\n

These will \u201chelp ensure that assurance integrity is retained over time, as well as promoting convenience and removing the friction platforms are clearly seeking to avoid with their minimalist approach to compliance at present.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regulate us, says the age assurance sector; then regulate us harder. Indeed, one might regulate as hard as possible without ever coming to the core issue: \u201cthe root of the problem facing Australia today is not a few smart teenagers evading age assurance technology, it is the fact that they don\u2019t even need to do so because they are not being asked to prove\u00a0their age in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI, perception, accountability to drive future debates<\/p>\n

Given everything learned, where is AVPA\u2019s compass pointing for 2027 and beyond?<\/p>\n

One answer is \u201cat AI.\u201d An industry originally prompted by the need to regulate pornography and purchases finds itself on the vanguard of defense against emerging risks presented by AI chatbots, deepfakes and synthetic identities.<\/p>\n

Trust continues to be a tough nut to crack. AVPA says the biggest risk is perception, particularly confusion between age assurance and identity verification<\/a>, which can lead to policy mistakes that create lasting barriers.<\/p>\n

The organization foresees a market that will continue to evolve as interoperability becomes a reality. Its goal is to build a track record of effectiveness and privacy, and to navigate as best as possible any PR issues that arise. Laws and standards will normalize, with nations now having what executive director Iain Corby calls \u201csecond mover advantage\u201d \u2013 the benefit of following a path others have already cleared, ultimately leading to better laws and regulations.<\/p>\n

One major issue that remains an open wound, so to speak, is the question of liability. Are parents accountable? App stores? Or platforms? Corby\u2019s presentation on the matter at the 2026 Global Age Assurance Standards Summit frames it as the ultimate question, on which balance in the industry hinges. He points to the \u201cproximity principle,\u201d which posits that the safety measure should be located closest to the risk. And in the platform model, the costs of compliance are paid for by those who created the problem in the first place.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tArticle Topics<\/p>\n

Age Assurance Technology Trial<\/a> \u00a0|\u00a0 age verification<\/a> \u00a0|\u00a0 Australia age verification<\/a> \u00a0|\u00a0 AVPA<\/a> \u00a0|\u00a0 social media<\/a><\/p>\n

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