Facebook Dating will use your face to verify that you are old enough for the date

Facebook Dating will use your face to verify that you are old enough for the date

Meta is testing a new age verification system on its Facebook dating platform to determine if you are over 18, but only if you live in the United States.

Age verification in Facebook Dating (opens in a new tab) appears to be inspired by Tinder and Bumble's own systems. Meta will offer users two different ways to verify their age: either through a selfie video or by uploading a photo of their ID, which is very similar to how Facebook confirms the identity of accounts (Opens in a new tab). .

For selfies, the platform gets help from digital identity company Yoti. According to Meta, video selfies work by giving users a series of instructions in the Facebook app that tell them to strike certain poses while their smartphone camera records them.

This video is then sent to Yoti, where the company will scan your face and estimate your age. If she determines that her face is older than 18, her profile is now verified. Meta claims that neither company will save video selfies, as each will be deleted immediately once her age is determined. And the AI ​​won't learn people's faces or recognize identities.

family technology

If the name "Yoti" sounds familiar, it's because it's the same company Meta uses in Instagram's age verification system to protect minors. Video selfies are used in a similar way, with users striking certain poses, after which it takes around 20 minutes for the system to verify their age. But unlike Facebook, Yoti seems to retain Instagram data (within 30 days of upload) instead of deleting it instantly.

The ad also claims that Yoti trained its AI by showing it "individuals of different age ranges, genders, and skin tones." Facial recognition technology has had a sketchy past with accuracy and recognition of people with darker skin tones. In addition, many fear that her face will be traced. At first glance, Meta addresses these concerns, which is fine, but no one can blame him if he's still worried.

We asked Meta if and when the facial recognition trial will go to other regions of the world. Facebook Dating is available in over 50 countries, including Argentina, Singapore, and the UK, to name a few. This story will be updated later.

fierce competition

At this point, you are probably thinking that you did not know that Facebook offers a dating service. By all accounts, Facebook Dating is not a very popular service, at least not in the United States due to stiff competition of titanic proportions.

Meta has never provided verifiable evidence of the number of people using Facebook Dating. The closest we could find is a 2021 report from The Verge(opens in a new tab) saying that 278,000 singles in New York use Facebook Dating. To put that in perspective, Bumble claimed three million users in New York in 2018 (opens in a new tab). We can't help but wonder which will happen first: the shutdown of Facebook Dating or the launch of age verification.

Be sure to check out TechRadar's list of the best dating apps for 2022 if you're looking for a platform with a lot more verifiable options.