Protect young users. Age verification, built into your consent flow.

For many businesses in the U.S., age verification is a legal obligation. Age verification confirms whether a user meets a required minimum age before they can access content or interact with your site.

Federal law under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) prohibits collecting personal data from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent. State-level regulations, including the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and the California Age-Appropriate Design Code (CAADC), extend those protections further, with more states introducing similar legislation each year.

Failing to verify age before data collection begins can expose your business to Federal Trade Commission enforcement action, state Attorney General investigations, and significant reputational damage.

Key frameworks include:

• COPPA (federal): Prohibits data collection from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent.
• CPRA (California): Requires heightened protections for users under 18, including restrictions on data selling and sharing.
• Age-Appropriate Design Codes: In effect in California, Nebraska, Vermont, and other states, requiring businesses to assess and mitigate privacy risks for minors by default.
• State data privacy laws: In Texas, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, and others include minor data protection provisions, with new legislation emerging regularly.
• State social media laws: In Florida, New York, Tennessee, and others, age verification and parental consent for minors on social platforms is mandated.
• Harmful content age verification laws: 19+ states require age checks before minors can access potentially harmful online content.

Standalone age verification tools require a separate integration, a new vendor relationship, and ongoing management alongside your existing consent management platform. Usercentrics Age Verification is built natively into your CMP — no new infrastructure, no additional vendor, no parallel systems to maintain. You configure everything from the same Admin Interface you already use.

Age verification runs as a mandatory gate before consent is collected. Based on the user’s Yes/No response, the platform automatically applies the appropriate rules — allowing the consent flow to proceed or blocking data collection and redirecting the user.

Age verification is currently available for Usercentrics customers that have paid plans.

If the user does not meet your age threshold, data collection is blocked, applicable opt-out rights are automatically applied and the user is redirected to a page you configure.

No developer resources required. Usercentrics Age Verification is activated and configured directly within your existing Admin Interface. You can set age thresholds, define redirect behavior, and configure the branding of your age gate without any custom development or new infrastructure.

Usercentrics Age Verification enforces an age gate before any data processing takes place, automatically blocking collection for users who fall below your configured threshold. Combined with automatic audit logging and exportable compliance records, this gives your legal and compliance teams the documented evidence they need to demonstrate COPPA-aligned practices to the FTC or in the event of a parental data request.

The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADC) extends children’s privacy protections beyond COPPA’s under-13 threshold to all users under 18. It requires businesses to default to the highest privacy settings for minors, restrict the sale and sharing of their data, and avoid design practices that could lead them to share more than necessary.

CAADC applies broadly — if your site or app is likely to be accessed by minors in California, you may be in scope even if you don’t explicitly target children. Enforcement is currently partially paused due to ongoing litigation, but businesses should treat compliance preparation as a matter of when, not if.

The California Age-Appropriate Design Code (CAADC) requires businesses to assess and mitigate privacy risks to users under 18, not just under 13. This includes defaulting to the highest privacy settings for minors, restricting the sale or sharing of their data, and avoiding practices that could lead to harm.

Usercentrics Age Verification helps you establish the age gate that makes these downstream protections enforceable. Once a user is identified as a minor, data collection, selling, and sharing are automatically blocked. This supports your documented compliance position that’s ready when enforcement begins.

Usercentrics Age Verification currently works through self-declaration. Users confirm whether they meet the required age threshold via a simple Yes/No prompt before accessing your site or interacting with your consent banner. No identity documents or biometric checks are required. Based on the user’s response, the platform automatically applies the appropriate rules, allowing the consent flow to proceed or blocking data collection and redirecting the user.

Yes, the age gate overlay is configurable to align with your brand’s visual identity. You control the messaging, layout, and design through the Admin Interface. This helps to ensure a consistent, polished, on-brand experience that integrates naturally with your existing consent banner and user journey.