Keeping children safe online: TrustElevate

Welcome to TrustElevate!

TrustElevate is a company that operates at the intersection of technology, privacy and human rights.

TrustElevate is age and parental responsibility verification service; that is, we verify both a young person’s age (between 13 and 16) and, for children (<13), the authorised holder of parental responsibility for that child and the child’s age.

It is understood by experts and expressed in codes of practice such as the ICO’s AADC that if apps knew the age-band of the users accessing their services, they could tailor the services accordingly. For example, an app provider could choose to enable options such that children in the same age-band can connect and interact with age-appropriate features and provide options for a parent to block the communication of adults not known to the parent with their child. These safety measures cannot happen in the absence of reliable and secure age assurance.  

TrustElevate enables businesses to know the age-band of the users accessing their services and to handle children and young people’s data in compliance with a raft of regulations, such as the UK’s Data Protection Act (2018) and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which comes into force in September 2020. The benefits of compliance include the scope to create a safer internet for children.

Benefits:

• Safer students
• Greater safeguarding capabilities for schools: save time and reduce budget pressures
• Reduced pressure on teachers dealing with online safety challenges
• Ability to select EdTech companies that comply with data protection regulation and the ICO’s Age-Appropriate Design Code.
• Provision of safety materials, guidance on upholding children’s rights in digital contexts

How does it work?

A child registering to use a social media app, provides a username and parent’s mobile number. A parent receives an SMS notification that their child wants to access a specific social media app.  A parent who is a BT customer can manage the request via the BT portal. Parent logins into the BT portal, which has integrated TE, and provides specific data points which are encrypted in transit and checked for a match against authoritative data sources. The purpose is to establish an association between the adult, child and the mobile number the adult has provided.

If these data points do not match it is not possible to create an account. Note that while it is the responsibility of the authorised holder of parental responsibility to either advise the child to provide that adult’s mobile number, and the adult to provide the child’s details, it is also possible for the holder of parental responsibility to initiate the verification process.

• The core output of TrustElevate’s verification processes is Verified Age (VA). That is, age assurance, i.e. this child falls within a specific age band so that, as per the digital playground’s policies, they are or are not eligible to access an app like TikTok.
• When a child meets the age-eligibility criteria to access, e.g. TikTok, knowing the age band means TikTok can determine if the child is or is not eligible to access specific age-gated features, such as direct messaging.
• Age-assurance tokens let the platform implement features designed to ensure children’s safety, as per the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which stipulates that age-rated content must be age-gated, and to obtain the consent of the verified holder of parental responsibility to process that child’s data, as required by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).