How to verify the age of internet users without uploading identity documents, disclosing personal information, or using facial recognition? The Montpellier-based company Needemand is working to solve this problem. This young company has developed a technology that controls user access to online content through subtle hand movements—a method that is both novel and ambitious.
The solution is called BorderAge. Users place their hand in front of a smartphone or computer camera, and the software analyzes the small movements and motion patterns of the hand, which are said to have typical characteristics for different age groups. According to the company, this allows determination of whether a person is above a certain minimum age limit without needing an ID card, a selfie, or biometric facial recognition.
The timing of this innovation is especially important.
France and the European Union are currently increasing efforts to restrict minors’ access to social networks, gambling, and especially pornographic content. Legislators and regulators are looking for effective solutions that do not infringe on user privacy, and BorderAge is at the intersection of this demand.
Data protection authorities face a dilemma. On the one hand, political pressure is mounting to better protect children and adolescents from harmful content. On the other hand, millions of citizens must be prevented from having to submit sensitive personal data to platforms or third parties. Therefore, systems that operate as anonymously as possible but still work reliably are considered particularly attractive.
Needemand promises to follow this path precisely. This technology identifies only the user’s age category, not the individual identity. For users, this means they can prove they are adults without leaving digital traces such as copies of ID cards or biometric data.
That almost sounds like science fiction.
However, questions still remain. The company claims a very high recognition accuracy, even mentioning a recognition rate of up to 99% at a hearing in the Canadian Senate. Such figures are very striking, especially when the analysis is based solely on hand movements. However, there is currently no widely recognized independent research that can fully verify these data.
Therefore, BorderAge becomes an example of a development that could become increasingly important in the coming years: online age verification should be secure, privacy-respecting, and as simple as possible. Whether hand micro-movement analysis will really become the new standard ultimately depends not only on technical performance but also on the trust of governments, platforms, and users.