Wizz joins Tech Coalition to back up claims its safety measures prevent sextortion

Wizz, which brands itself as “the social discovery app for GenZ to build community globally,” has announced in a release that it has joined the Tech Coalition, the global technology industry’s collective effort to tackle online child sexual exploitation and abuse at scale.

The firm, which is based in France, says it is now one of only three European companies to claim membership in the coalition, which puts it alongside social media giants like Meta and Snap Inc. As such, it claims to be helping to close a gap in European representation, as the bloc stickhandles digital regulation through the Digital Services Act and AI Act.

Membership will allow it to participate in Tech Coalition working groups on issues like financial sextortion, trust and safety transparency and age assurance.

Bad press from sextortion claims hard for Wizz to shrug off

The move is part of Wizz’s efforts to shake off reputational damage from allegations that its platform – which matches people of similar ages similar to how Tinder matches potential romantic interests (and uses the same horizontal swipe mechanic) – has enabled grooming and so-called sextortion schemes to proliferate.

Sextortion typically involves the practice of soliciting explicit photos from minors, which are then used for blackmail and extortion.

In 2024, the Wizz app was removed from the App Store and Google Play, after the National Center on Sexual Exploitation raised concerns about the risks it posed. It has been linked to rape and sexual assault cases in which adults posed as minors on the Wizz app to lure kids. A piece in Futurism sums up the case: “though it’s meant to connect kids with others their age, in reality it’s become a mechanism for predators to meet underaged victims.”

Yoti FAE, mandatory user verification in place

Wizz is not without safeguards. For age checks, it uses biometric facial age estimation (FAE) from Yoti, and in 2024 introduced mandatory user verification that matches a selfie registered during onboarding with a user’s profile image: “all images on the platform,” says its website, “are being verified with AWS Machine Learning.”

According to the platform’s documentation, users must be 16 years of age to create a Wizz account, and all users must complete an age assurance process during onboarding.

The system as described, however, is a strange hybrid that combines an FAE scan with a self-attested date of birth. Yoti’s tech provides an age estimate – and Wizz then compares the estimate to a user’s stated date of birth “to ensure safety.”

“Any users who do not meet Wizz’s age requirements,” it says, “are restricted and banned.” However, discrepancies may also trigger a request for document-based age verification.

Wizz joins the Tech Coalition after completing its Elevate pilot program, “a six-month initiative designed to help platforms operationalize child safety practices at scale.” The accelerator program gave Wizz the opportunity to implement new Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) detection tools, establish automated reporting protocols for reporting to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)’s CyberTipline, update its Child Safety Standards, training moderation teams, and develop wellness resources to support teams working with sensitive material.

Per the release, coalition membership requires “a rigorous audit of safety systems, moderation practices and reporting processes. Wizz was validated across governance, proactive moderation, age assurance, and civil society collaboration.”

“Joining the Tech Coalition reflects our belief that child safety is a shared responsibility,” says Thomas Donninger, CEO of Wizz. “This allows us to contribute what we’ve learned as a Gen-Z-focused platform while continuing to strengthen our practices alongside industry leaders as part of an ecosystem.”

The firm is clearly trying to broadcast that it is taking action to prevent child exploitation. It has reached for the right tools and joined the right groups. As such, its story will be informative in illustrating a fundamental truth: age assurance is only as good as the company deploying it.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  facial age estimation (FAE)  |  selfie biometrics  |  Wizz  |  Yoti