FTC Denies Proposed Facial Scanning for Children's Privacy, Cites Unproven Accuracy

ESRB, Yoti, and Superawesome proposed using AI-powered facial scanning to verify ages for COPPA compliance. The FTC has now denied the proposal.

The facial scanning idea stirred controversy over privacy and bias concerns. The ESRB tried reassuring that no data would be stored.

The FTC denial was because there's no evidence yet that the technology actually works. An evaluation from NIST has not yet been delivered.

The FTC is not rejecting the idea entirely. They encourage resubmission once the NIST evaluation provides more clarity.

The ESRB is disappointed and remains hopeful facial estimation will eventually be COPPA-compliant technology.