Google Uses Account Activity to Apply Teen Protections in the UAE

Google is gradually rolling out age-assurance technology in the United Arab Emirates that estimates whether an account belongs to someone over or under 18. Accounts it identifies as under 18 will automatically receive existing protections across Google services, changing advertising, app access, Maps and YouTube settings.

From account signals to an age estimate

Google says the system uses machine learning to assess signals already associated with an account, including the kinds of information a user has searched for and categories of YouTube videos they have watched. It uses those signals to estimate whether a user is over or under 18, rather than treating age assurance as a setting inside one product.

Settings change across four services

For accounts identified as under 18, Google will disable personalized advertising and restrict age-sensitive ad categories. It will also prevent access to adult-restricted apps on Google Play and disable Timeline in Maps.

• Google Play: accounts identified as under 18 cannot access apps restricted to adults.
• Maps: Timeline is turned off for users identified as under 18.
• YouTube: Digital Wellbeing reminders are enabled, alongside recommendation safeguards that include limits on repetitive views of some content.

A way to challenge a wrong result

Google offers a correction path for people who believe they were incorrectly identified as under 18: they can verify their age by uploading a photo of a government ID or a selfie. The option is significant because a mistaken estimate can affect defaults and access across several services at once.

Google describes the UAE deployment as gradual. Its approach is to let adults retain access while automatically applying more protective settings to accounts it estimates belong to younger users.