WhatsApp is Testing Age Verification

The Tech Trace reports that a WhatsApp representative has confirmed the messenger is testing out new age verification on some user accounts to comply with a new law in India.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP) will come into effect May of 2027, so this is just an early trial and it hasn't rolled out to all users in India yet.

Some people are getting new popups in WhatsApp asking them to add their age. The popup says "Upcoming laws in India require us to ask for your
age." A spokesperson for WhatsApp clarified what specific law and what the feature is meant for:

To comply with upcoming laws in India like the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP), we are testing privacy-protective ways for people to confirm their age. This doesn’t change how WhatsApp works or your experience. We understand that information about someone’s age is private and it won’t be shared with other WhatsApp users.

The law itself doesn't actually require age verification, it requires obtaining "verifiable consent" of a parent or guardian before processing the data of a child.

In order to verify that, it's a multi-step process. First, the app needs to check if the user is a child, which can either be self-reported and potentially wrong or enforced by some age verification process.

Second, the minor account needs an adult account to claim it and perform "due diligence" to ensure the owner of the account is indeed an adult.

Third, they need to confirm that the adult is indeed the parent or guardian of the child. This part is concerning as it would likely involve actually identifying each individual person and not just confirming their age via some kind of privacy-preserving method using zero-knowledge proofs or a similar technology.

For the time being, you can just lie about your age and WhatsApp will believe you. It's not clear what they plan for the future in terms of "privacy-protective" age verification but attempts at making digital IDs allow privacy-preserving age verification have been made, with Google and Apple both implementing versions of Digital IDs that allow you to choose specific information to share.

The technology is young, however, with many kinks to work out still and not many examples of services actually utilizing the feature.

The EU's digital ID app was hacked earlier this year, raising security concerns over the not-yet battle tested technology.