Yubo Enhances User Safety with its 100% Age Verification System

Social media apps are playing an increasingly significant role in the digital world and how we connect with others over shared interests and goals. Many users cultivate online friends and close relationships through their social media interactions on these virtual gathering spots. Taking it a step further, supportive online communities often play an integral role in users’ lives, their development and how they communicate and express themselves in the world.

Yubo, a live social discovery platform for Gen Z ages 13–25, has reached nearly 100% implementation of its latest Age Verification System (or AVS). In September 2022, Yubo becomesthe first top-tier social media app to require 100% of its users to verify their ages.

Yubo’s 100% Age Verification System is a Game Changer

Yubo’s age verification process, which was developed in partnership with digital identity provider Yoti applies to every first-time user as well as current users who have not yet verified their age. New users will not be able to access the app and existing users will not be allowed to continue using the app until they have verified themselves.

Verifying a user’s age typically takes only a few minutes, and the user does not need any IDs or other personal documentation. This process accommodates younger users who may not have an ID card yet.

Age Gating’s Twofold Advantages

Yubo’s new AVS technology will reinforce another important feature: age gating. Once each user has verified their age, they will be placed into different communities based on age.

Age gating is designed to limit interaction between adults and teens. This age-gating capability makes Yubo stand out from other social media apps, most of which lack these protocols.

Age gating will also facilitate more genuine user interactions across the board. Regardless of their origin, the app’s Gen Z users will be most comfortable chatting, playing games, and sharing experiences common among others of their generation because they will have greater confidence that other users are the age they say.

How the Yubo Age Verification Process Works

Yubo’s entire age verification sequence takes place within the app. All that is required by the user is taking a real-time photo of their face, making the process simple, convenient and fast.

Next, the Yoti liveness algorithm captures a short video to verify the photo’s authenticity and to confirm it is not a screenshot or a fake photo from a Google image. Assuming everything checks out, Yoti’s software then estimates the user’s age by looking at facial features and interpreting them as pixels associated with a specific age. If Yoti determines that the user’s actual age and claimed age is the same, they will be marked verified and routed to the Yubo homepage.

When a User Cannot Verify Their Age

If a user fails the age verification process, they will be asked to provide additional documentation that can help to accurately determine their age. A team of Yubo Safety Specialists will ensure that the in-app process is in sync with “privacy by design” protocols dictated by European data privacy laws. In addition, all Yubo users should understand that the Age Verification System is unable to link a specific facial image to a person’s name or identity.

The Yoti Software’s Accuracy Rate Inspires Confidence

The technology that Yubo has integrated into its verification process continues to grow in accuracy year over year. To date, Yoti has executed over 550 million age estimations and the software can tell with 98.9% certainty that a user falls above or below a defined age threshold.

This impressive accuracy rate is valid for every age, gender, and skin tone. The Yoti technology has also received external validation, earning the well-regarded iBeta certification.

Yoti’s proprietary algorithm accurately defines 6 to 12-year-old users’ ages within 1.3 years. For 13 to 18-year-old users, the Yoti software is accurate within 1.5 years.

Yubo and Yoti Team Up for Users’ Safety

Yubo regards Yoti as a trusted partner in furthering user safety. Since 2019, Yoti’s software has been instrumental in verifying suspicious user accounts across the Yubo app. Yoti has also implemented its age-estimation technology in partnership with many well-known business software, retail, financial services, and government agency clients.

Yoti CEO Robin Tombs acknowledges the large-scale positive impact of Yubo’s Age Verification System implementation. “With over 60 million users, Yubo understands the immense challenge of ensuring that their community remains safe.

“By using our industry-leading age verification across their entire platform, users who want to enjoy Yubo responsibly have an easy, privacy-preserving tool to verify their age. We are proud to collaborate with Yubo to help safeguard young people and create age-appropriate experiences online,” he remarks.

The Age Verification System’s Accelerated Rollout

In May 2022, Yubo introduced its Age Verification System to its 13-to-14-year-old users as a beta test. Under Yubo’s initial timeline, 100% of its users would complete the age verification process by the end of 2022.

However, according to Yubo, the AVS beta trial went better than expected. This enabled Yubo to expedite its timeline for 100% user age verification. In fact, all of Yubo’s Apple users completed age verification three months ahead of schedule. Android users (less than 10% of Yubo’s user base) will complete the process within the next several weeks.

Yubo’s Top Leaders Prioritize Users’ Platform Safety

Yubo CEO Sacha Lazimi emphasizes the importance of user safety while encouraging users’ authentic online connections. “Our commitment to empowering Gen Z to express themselves and connect authentically online is second only to our commitment to continually advancing Yubo’s position as a leader in safety innovation.

“By continually applying new safety measures, such as mandatory age verification, to our platform, we are taking a clear stance that we are willing to drive away a portion of new users in order to prioritize making Yubo as safe as it can possibly be,” Lazimi emphasizes.

Marc-Antoine Durand, Yubo’s Chief Operating Officer, reaffirms the company’s core mission. He also explains the significance of the company’s Age Verification System in ensuring user safety. “At Yubo, we passionately believe in empowering Gen Z to interact safely online and giving them a place to discover and belong.

“Expanding on our partnership with Yoti through this identity verification technology will help us continue building on what is most important — the protection of our users. Many young people under 16 do not have any form of ID, which makes the standard identification processes difficult.

“With the ability to verify users’ age without ID, we can be inclusive of all our users and add another important layer to our extensive safety practices. This technology will help us take another step towards ensuring that our young users feel safe and comfortable on Yubo,” Durand concludes.

The Yubo Safety Board Plays a Key Role

To inform its user safety policies and practices, Yubo relies on guidance from its respected Safety Board. These international online safety industry leaders have partnered with organizations such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Thorn, and INTERPOL.

Annie Mullins OBE spearheads the Yubo user safety program. Currently Yubo’s Independent Safety Advisor, she previously focused on online user protection during her executive roles at Yahoo! UK and Vodafone. Mullins echoes the Yubo dedication to online safety for users of all ages.

“Yubo has gone above and beyond to enhance the online experiences of Gen Z on its platform by proactively mitigating safety risks…Its rapid, full-scale deployment of sophisticated age-verification technology with Yoti is just the latest evidence of its unwavering commitment to online safety innovation,” Mullins concludes.

Supplemental User Safety Protocols

Yubo’s 100% Age Verification System sets an admirable standard for the industry. However, Yubo’s leadership in safety does not begin or end there. Yubo was also the first social platform to enable audio and video livestream moderation in real-time.

If a user safety issue emerges during a livestream, several online Safety Specialists, supported by Emergency Escalation Team members, jump in to the livestream to help. In addition, Yubo utilizes a suite of powerful digital AI monitoring tools that enhance its team members’ efforts.

Livestream Interventions in Real-Time

Social media conversations have historically been impacted by an annoying lag time between the users’ comments. This lag time also affects moderators, which takes on new significance during a time-sensitive intervention.

However, Yubo has addressed this issue by implementing human livestream intervention by its team of Safety Specialists. When a livestream report is made, Safety Specialists can enter the Live in real time and take any necessary action. Yubo is the first social media app to offer this capability.

To assess the need for an intervention, Yubo’s artificial intelligence (or AI) filters also track all livestreams through second-by-second screenshots. If the filter identifies potentially harmful or inappropriate content, a human moderator receives a real-time alert. The moderator can then quickly enter the livestream monitor or resolve the issue.

Yubo’s Dedication to Users’ Safe Online Experiences

Yubo is currently wrapping up its Age Verification System rollout. The company will also continue to utilize its other user safety protocols to ensure its social media platform is safe for users of every age. When new technologies emerge, Yubo will implement them to ensure users’ continued safety and well-being.

User Modification and Education Tools

Yubo believes it’s important for users to control their social media platform content. To that end, Yubo users can select the Muted Words feature. This option enables users to ban certain words, emojis and/or phrases they want to avoid.

Alternatively, some users may be preparing to post inappropriate content. Other users may be ready to share sensitive personal information. If Yubo’s algorithm detects that either event is about to occur, the user will receive a pop-up alert. They will be asked to evaluate the action’s potential outcomes and perhaps choose to reconsider. With this, Yubo’s goal is to educate its users on safe online behavior.

Originally published at https://www.collegian.psu.edu on September 14, 2022.