> The system relies on signals such as the types of videos a user searches for and watches, and how long their account has been active, to determine whether they are under the age of 18.
I'm sure the reporting doesn't have all the detail, but if this is the extent of the detection heuristics, it seems to me that anybody who signs up anew would be forced to prove their age. If a new account gets created and the person immediately searches for "adult" content, there's no way to reliably guess the person's age, is there?
unnamed76ri•5mo ago
I might get downvoted for this but I immediately think of adults who consume certain content having a rough time:
Bronies, The last airbender, Anime in general,
Superhero stuff
defrost•5mo ago
Fifteen years of searching for and watching My Little Pony content is going to prompt any AI to guess adult .. coupled with sharing internet with parents over 50 will just seal the result.
dh2022•5mo ago
2025 does look more and more like the end of an era.
rasz•5mo ago
Cant wait for Google to want me verify age on my 20 year old account!
explodes•5mo ago
I know you're joking, but I can still think of legitimate reasons to trigger an age gate on such an account.
Not being logged in to Google and not keeping cookies between browser sessions, most of the time Google gives me the standard cookie permissions popup (where you can enable or disable search personalisation and targeted advertisting), but occasionally I seemingly at random I get the "we can't determine whether you're over 18 yet?" variant instead. I wonder what's causing it to flipflop between the two states…?
andsoitis•5mo ago
I'm sure the reporting doesn't have all the detail, but if this is the extent of the detection heuristics, it seems to me that anybody who signs up anew would be forced to prove their age. If a new account gets created and the person immediately searches for "adult" content, there's no way to reliably guess the person's age, is there?