Yubo, a Gen Z-focused live social discovery platform, has added a new age verification process to its host of safety features to make the app as safe a place as possible. In September 2022, Paris-based app Yubo began to implement the final stages of rollout for its latest Age Verification System (or AVS) to 100% of its users. Launched in 2015, Yubo is the first major social media platform to require 100% user age verification.
The Yubo Age Verification System Rollout
With technical guidance from top-tier digital identity expert Yoti, Yubo first introduced its new Age Verification System to the app's 13-to-14-year-old users in May 2022 via beta test. Yubo considers this group its most vulnerable users, spurring the company to conduct the trial AVS rollout with this cohort.
The company initially planned to implement 100% user age verification by the end of 2022. However, the AVS beta trial went exceptionally well, leading Yubo to accelerate the rollout to its entire user base three months ahead of schedule. Within the next few weeks, Android users (who make up approximately 10% of the user base) will see full AVS deployment.
Age Gating Offers Multiple Benefits
The AVS technology further helps Yubo in separating users into different communities based on their ages, limiting interaction between adults and teens on the platform. This age-gating framework sets Yubo apart from many other social media platforms, which lack these controls and the robust technology needed to enforce them.
Age gating also encourages more authentic user interactions for everyone. Gen Zers from across the globe will enjoy conversing, playing games, and sharing insights that resonate with other their peers. With age verification in place, users can feel confident that other users are the age they say they are.
Yubo's Leadership Expresses Company's Commitment to User Safety
Yubo CEO Sacha Lazimi affirms the company's commitment to maintaining its industry-leading platform safety measures. "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 concludes.
Yubo Chief Operating Officer Marc-Antoine Durand details the Age Verification System's benefits for the company's diverse user base. He also discusses the AVS' key role in delivering on the company's core mission. "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 summarizes.
Yubo's Age Verification is Simple and Fast
When a first-time user visits Yubo to create an account, they will be required to successfully complete the age verification process before they can access the app. The same protocol applies to a current user who has not yet verified their age through this new system. The sequence only takes a few minutes and does not require any IDs or other documentation. This is an advantage for younger users who may not have received their ID cards yet.
Snapshot of the Yubo Age Verification Process
To begin the age verification process, each user must take a real-time photograph of their face within the Yubo app. This in-app photo requirement prevents the user from importing a fake picture from a screenshot or Google image. Yoti's liveness algorithm also takes a short video to confirm the photo's validity.
Assuming the photo is legitimate, the Yoti software breaks the user's picture into a pattern of pixels, which are associated with a specific age. If Yoti matches the user's claimed age to their actual age based on the photo, they will immediately be verified and taken to the Yubo homepage.
When a User Fails the Age Verification
However, if a user fails the verification process, they will be prompted to provide ID documentation that verifies their age, which is checked by a Yubo Safety Specialist, and they will not be able to access the Yubo app until they are manually approved. Yubo ensures that all of its processes comply with "privacy by design" principles that sync with European data privacy laws.
Finally, users should know that Yubo's privacy-centric Age Verification System cannot link their provided facial image to a name or specific identity, and their photo is not stored or used by Yoti beyond this process.
The Yoti Software is Highly Accurate
Yoti's age verification software has a 98.9% accuracy rate when determining if a specific user is above or below a certain age threshold. The accuracy rate holds true for all ages, skin tones, and genders. In addition, the Yoti technology has received the coveted iBeta certification.
To date, Yoti has completed more than 550 million user age evaluations. Its algorithm accurately gauges 6 to 12-year-old users' ages within a 1.3-year margin. 13 to 18-year-old users' ages are accurate within a 1.5-year interval.
The Ongoing Yubo-Yoti Partnership
For perspective, Yoti has been Yubo's trusted partner since 2019. Since that time, the Yoti software has been used specifically to address and verify suspicious user accounts. In addition to Yubo, Yoti has also worked with many major companies applying its advanced technology across financial, retail, business software, and government agency clients.
Yoti CEO Robin Tombs affirms the significance of the Yubo Age Verification System rollout. "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 concludes.
The Yubo Safety Board's Oversight
Yubo's well-regarded Safety Board provides informed guidance for the platform's user safety policies and practices. These highly credible international thought leaders have lent their expertise to organizations including INTERPOL, Thorn, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Annie Mullins OBE is Yubo's Independent Safety Advisor. She acquired extensive user protection expertise while serving as an executive at Yahoo! UK, and Vodafone. She emphasizes Yubo's ongoing commitment to user safety.
"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 remarks.
Additional User Safety Measures
Besides its industry-leading Age Verification System, Yubo was also the globe's first social media platform to integrate real-time video and audio livestream moderation. A team of online Safety Specialists, along with supportive Emergency Escalation Team members, are available 24/7 to intervene in livestreams in real-time if needed. In addition, Yubo's suite of digital monitoring tools operates smoothly in the background.
Real-Time Livestream Interventions
Historically, social media conversations have been hampered by a lag time between user comments. Moderators have also been impacted by these lag times, which can be a concern during time-critical interventions. Yubo solves this with its real-time livestream intervention capabilities
To determine when an intervention is needed, Yubo's Safety Specialists respond to user reports as well as Yubo's artificial intelligence (or AI) filters, which track every livestream through second-by-second screenshots. If the filters detect inappropriate or potentially harmful content, human moderators receive a real-time alert. A moderator will immediately enter the livestream and determine the best action to take.
User Modification and Education
Yubo users can also exert considerable control over the content they see. By choosing the Muted Words feature, a user can block specific words, emojis and/or phrases they find harmful or triggering.
To help educate users on safe online behavior, if a user appears to be engaged in inappropriate conduct, or they are about to share sensitive personal information, they will receive a real-time pop-up alert. They will be urged to consider the action's implications and decide if they want to continue or reverse course.
Yubo's Enduring Commitment to User Safety
As Yubo completes its Age Verification System rollout, the company maintains a steadfast commitment to keeping its platform safe for all users. If new technologies enable further safeguards, Yubo will proactively work to bring them to fruition.
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