Incode joins Australia’s Age Assurance Technology Trial

Identity verification company Incode Technologies has announced it is participating in the Australian Government’s trial to evaluate technologies designed to prevent minors from accessing social media platforms.

The trial comes in response to the Australian Government’s nationwide ban on social media access for individuals under the age of 16. Set to take effect in November, the trial will evaluate the effectiveness, maturity and readiness for the use of age assurance technologies in the Australian context.

Research shows that 80%, or 1.3 million, children in Australia aged 8–12 are using one or more social media platforms, highlighting the potential widespread breaches of minimum age policies. Age-assurance technologies, used to verify, estimate or infer user age, are essential tools for regulators and digital platforms seeking to protect online spaces.

Incode says that using a simple biometric selfie, its technology can estimate a user’s age in seconds, achieving a 99.87% true positive rate without storing any personal information. The system completes the entire verification process in just three seconds on average and demonstrates exceptional accuracy in estimating the age of minors (6–17).

Validated by recent testing by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Incode says it emerged as a top performer for age estimation and verification solutions in accuracy, reliability and lack of bias after rigorous testing across a wide range of real-world scenarios.

Incode aims to demonstrate its expertise in two key categories of age verification during the Australian trial:

• Facial age estimation: Estimating a user’s age through a simple selfie scanned using advanced AI algorithms, it prioritises privacy and does not store or share any biometric data.
• Document-based verification: Validating the user’s identity by leveraging government-issued IDs, matching the ID with a selfie to validate ownership, and calculating the age based on the document’s date of birth.
  
   

Incode runs over 35 proprietary checks to validate the ID while using data redaction that only extracts and shows the date of birth. The company says all other information remains private — neither visible nor stored, ensuring a privacy-first user and backend experience.

“We don’t just meet requirements — we innovate alongside our clients to solve the industry’s toughest age-related challenges, with privacy and safety at the core of everything we build,” said Yoon Kim, Product Lead, Incode Technologies.

“Our longstanding expertise in age estimation extends beyond age-gated industries, helping businesses across sectors combat fraud while ensuring seamless user experiences. This depth of experience makes us a natural fit for this groundbreaking trial, which aligns with our mission to build trust and security in the digital world,” said Milo Flores, GTM Lead for Age Verification, Incode Technologies.

The trial will be led by the UK-based non-profit Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS), a globally recognised conformity assessment body specialising in age-assurance systems.

The trial’s findings are expected to inform future regulatory frameworks and best practices for age verification solutions, paving the way for greater innovation in protecting vulnerable online users while upholding privacy standards.

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