Google says online age verification difficult to implement, up to content providers not search engines

The implementation of age verification online is a difficult task and online content providers, rather than search engines like Alphabet Inc.’s Google, are best suited to limit or block pornographic content from young persons, according to the company’s Canadian head of public policy and government relations. Wednesday evening Colin McKay spoke to the Senate’s Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs as it studied Bill S-210, an act to restrict young persons’ online access to sexually explicit material. Bill S-210 would enable designated enforcement authorities to take steps to prevent sexually explicit material from being made available to youth on the internet in Canada. “There is an understandable concern about the ease with which some young kids access pornographic content online and on social media. We believe that content providers are best positioned to establish the risk associated with their service and put in place the right method to limit access to the service by underaged users,” McKay said. The Google official noted that Google does not let children under the age of 13 create a standard Google account and has developed a protection called “safe search” to filter out explicit results when it is enabled. He also said the company has created policies over the past several years that govern what advertisements and commercial content kids through its “family link” account which filters out inappropriate content. McKay also argued that YouTube, which is also owned by Alphabet Inc., adheres to strict community guidelines that prohibit pornography and sexually explicit content. He noted that mature ads are automatically shielded from youth under 18 and they cannot download mature applications on Google Play. If an underaged user fails to add supervision to their account it becomes disabled, and according to McKay, the company blocks “tens of thousands” of accounts each week as part of the process. “Having an accurate age for a user can be an important element in providing experiences tailored to their needs,” he said in regard to the goals of Bill S-210. “Yet knowing the accurate age of our users across multiple products and services, while respecting their privacy, and ensuring that our services remain accessible is a complex challenge.” According to McKay, Google also does not accept sexually explicit advertising and does not provide remuneration to providers of that content. He said if a sexually explicit image or website, such as PornHub, turns up as the top search it is “simply an index of relevant results based on the information you provided and what Google understands about you,” such as age. McKay also said the use of the word “organization” in the bill is ambiguous and, should it pass, there would need to be a conversation about the expectations and intent around which organizations to hold accountable. “Our interpretation is that the obligation, as its stands, is for age verification by the provider for the online pornography - the site – and they should be enforcing both local and federal laws. While we have an interest in this issue… we in fact would simply be operating primarily as a search engine,” he said. To date in the bill's study, witnesses have expressed support for the idea of protecting vulnerable youth from harmful sexually explicit content on the internet but have raised concerns over the bills contents. The committee heard from stakeholders in February who said that blocking pornographic websites in Canada that do not comply with age verification requirements could result in the over-blocking of legitimate websites. In March it heard from CRTC officials which said that it cannot direct internet service providers (ISPs) to implement age verification techniques on pornographic websites in Canada, because the regulator must adhere to the principles of net neutrality. – Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Google says online age verification difficult to implement, up to content providers not search engines

Broadcast | April 6, 2022

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Google says online age verification difficult to implement, up to content providers not search engines

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