Age verification popups might be necessary not only for adult sites. Read this article to find out when age verification tools can come in handy.
Some sites feature age-sensitive content that should be accessible only to visitors aged 18 or older. In some countries and territories, the minimum required threshold is 19 or even 21 years. From this article, you’ll get to know which types of content shouldn’t be available to younger users. Plus, you’ll learn how to add an age verification popup to your site.
Is Age-Sensitive Content the Same As Prohibited Content?
No, these are two different terms. Depending on the location and jurisdiction of your business, the following types of content might be classified as prohibited:
- Weapon-related content
- Any content encouraging intolerance to certain groups of people, bloodshed or other violent scenes
- Any references about recreational drugs, alcohol and tobacco-related products
- Gambling-related content
- Suicide-related content
Children and teenagers perceive and interpret information differently than adults. They might believe that recreational drugs don’t pose any threat to human health or that it’s cool to have a gun and use it to threaten people. Once they have developed such a stereotype, it will be close to impossible to explain to them that they’re wrong. That’s why this type of content is known as prohibited.
You might have heard about online games that lead to teenager suicides. Your gamers meet some strangers online. The latter never disclose any private information about themselves but quickly get to know everything about their victims’ lives. They keep manipulating the teens for a few weeks and then the poor youngsters kill themselves. Businesses are required to label age-sensitive content to prevent such situations.
Gambling-related content doesn’t necessarily need to be prohibited. The main point here is that underage users should not know about the opportunity of gambling for real cash. They might want to try to play for real money and might lose a large sum from their parents’ pocket.
What Is Adult Content?
Here is the most common definition of adult content: it’s something that you wouldn’t like to discuss in your boss’ office or during a family dinner. It’s the definition that Google sticks to.
For instance, erotic photos that show naked or half-naked bodies can be classified as adult content. If grown-ups discuss their sexual life on an Internet forum in medical terms, that’s also adult content, even if it is not too explicit. Children shouldn’t be able to access erotic content. But if they come across it, it probably won’t have such a detrimental effect on their psychics as prohibited content.
As for the scenes of violence, it all depends on how shocking and detailed they are. Murderers can take place even in cartoons for pre-school children (for instance, a frog can eat an insect). Teens can legally watch news that inform them about wars and crimes. But if the content that is focused on deaths, diseases and other types of destruction becomes too disturbing, it can be classified as adult and in the most extreme cases as prohibited.
Why Is It Important to Separate Prohibited Content from Adult?
That’s important for businesses that might want to give ads on various sites. For instance, a medical equipment manufacturer might not mind placing its ad on an urology forum. But they would hardly agree to put the same banner on a site that glorifies illegal drug consumption.
What can happen if a business places its ads on a site that features age-sensitive content but has no age verification tool e.g. https://claspo.io/blog/age-verification-pop-up-why-do-you-need-it-and-how-to-add-one-to-your-website/? The advertiser’s reputation might get tarnished. They might be blamed of supporting spreading adult content among minors. Why doesn’t this business put its ads on sites that have no adult content at all? Well, some companies might want to deliberately target adults. For instance, they might want to promote gambling among grown-ups or TV series that involve scenes of violence. That’s why it’s crucial to categorize content and label it accordingly.
What to Do If Your Site Features Age-Sensitive Content?
First, it would be wise to consult with a lawyer. You may never know all the legal nuances related to sensitive content.
Second, you should determine which pages of your site feature age-restricted content. If only selected pages have it, you should add an age verification tool to those pages. If all the pages include adult content, you should ask visitors to confirm their age as soon as they open the main page.
How Does the Best Age Verification Tool Look?
Ideally, it should be a popup with two buttons: “Yes, I’m 18 years old or older” and “No, I’m younger”. Alternatively, you can add one box to the popup that the visitor can tick to confirm they have come of age. Or, you can ask the user to specify the date, month and year when they were born in the popup — but that might look and feel too annoying.
Once the visitor confirms they have come of age, the popup should disappear. If the user is a minor, you should decide which URL you’ll redirect them to instead of giving access to your content.
How Can You Create an Age Verification Popup?
To create such a popup, you don’t need to have any coding or design skills. You can find a user-friendly and affordable online tool that allows you to build popups. You’ll be able to choose from an extensive range of templates and customize them so that they nicely fit into the visual aesthetics of your site. All the templates that top tools feature are mobile-responsive. You can preview your popup before it goes live. Then, you’ll be able to stop or modify its settings at any moment.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you found this article informative and now you know why some sites need to have an age verification tool. As a business owner, you need to protect minors from the content that might have a detrimental effect on their psychics. The easiest and the most common way of checking your visitors’ age is adding a popup to your site. You can create such a popup with your own hands in less than ten minutes.
Last Updated: March 28, 2022
