Yoti is now an approved form of age verification for age-restricted sites in Germany. The news comes courtesy of the German Association for Voluntary Self-Regulation of Digital Media service providers (FSM), which is an established self-regulatory organization that oversees telemedia in the country.

The certification specifically concerns Yoti Age Scan and Yoti’s Digital ID app, which can now be accepted as proof of age to grant access to age-restricted content. Both are able to verify someone’s age without forcing that person to share unnecessary personal information.

To that end, Yoti Age Scan is an age estimation tool that assesses someone’s age based on a single photo. The solution is accurate to within two years, even for those between the ages of 13 and 25. The photo used to make the estimate is deleted as soon as the Age Scan is completed, and users do not need to enter any personal information before submitting to the Scan. That makes make the tool completely anonymous despite the use of facial biometrics.

In practice, people will be able to enter age-restricted sites if the Age Scan estimate is higher than the age threshold for that site. However, people will have the opportunity to provide an alternate form of age verification if the Scan believes that they are younger than the threshold.

That’s where Yoti’s Digital ID comes into play. Consumers can use the app to take a selfie and a photo of an official government ID to create a secure digital ID. They can then scan a QR code with the app to confirm that they are over the required age without disclosing any other information associated with the ID.

Yoti has previously been leveraged for proof of age in online casinos and for age-restricted sites in the UK. It has also been used to enable the online sale of alcohol.  The FSM certification indicates that app is gaining traction in other parts of Europe, and could pave the way for more age verification applications in the future.

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)