YEO Messaging launches face biometrics and liveness SDK for age, IDV

UK firm YEO Messaging has launched a facial verification and liveness detection product. The company is known for its secure communications platform with end-to-end encrypted messaging and continuous biometric authentication. In launching its biometric verification tool, it joins vendors embracing age assurance as they hone in on Australia’s online safety laws and age restrictions on social media. 

“With Australia’s social media age restrictions taking effect this week, platforms worldwide are under mounting pressure to demonstrate they can reliably verify the age of younger users without compromising privacy,” says a company blog. It calls YEO’s system “a practical, privacy-first solution that helps platforms meet these expectations and take the ‘reasonable steps’ required to prevent under-16s from creating or maintaining accounts.” 

The firm’s tech, which appears to be proprietary (at least in aggregate), combines three independent biometric checks for comprehensive liveness detection – facial mapping to generate a biometric template, high-performance anti-spoofing via neural network analyses, and real-time depth verification that “confirms true liveness by measuring the spatial structure of the user’s face.”

This, says YEO, offers fast, accurate, privacy preserving identity verification and age assurance. 

“With this launch, YEO continues to set the benchmark for privacy-led identity verification,” says Sarah Bone, co-founder and online safety advocate for YEO Messaging. “As governments globally debate how to protect younger users online, we’re delivering technology that puts verified trust and digital safety into practice.” 

In a recent article for Biometric Update, Bone calls the present moment “a wake-up call for the tech industry.” 

“Platforms will need to demonstrate not only that they attempted to verify age, but that they did so in a way that is privacy-preserving, proportionate, and trustworthy. The era of ‘tick-box compliance’ is over.”

The Facial Recognition with Liveness Detection product is available within the YEO For Business secure communications platform, and for third-party integration via SDK.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometric liveness detection  |  face biometrics  |  identity verification  |  Yeo Messaging