App stores to screen age of Singapore users to block kids from accessing apps for adults

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app stores must block young users below 18 years old from downloading apps not meant for their age group, including dating app Tinder and adult video games like Grand Theft Auto.

Under the new Code of Practice for Online Safety for App Distribution Services, app stores targeting users in Singapore must also block children below 12 from downloading apps like Instagram and TikTok, which are rated for ages 12 and above.

App stores are also responsible for monitoring app content, ....This ensures harmful materials such as sexual or violent content and content related to cyber bullying, self-harm and vice, among others, are kept out of reach of children.

use of artificial intelligence, machine learning or facial scans – which it said have “significantly evolved” – to allow for age assurance measures to be implemented effectively. Facial screening technology has been increasingly deployed in apps such as Instagram ... requiring users to take real-time footage of their face, which is analysed by an age verification tech company...Alternatively, platforms can also rely on verified sources of identification, like a digital ID or credit card, to determine the age of a user

Qns:

1. ‘Profits without accountability.’ To what extent is this accurate of corporations today? (DHS Prelim 2024)

2. To what extent does the government have the right to monitor what people do online? (MI Prelim 2024)