Veriff partners with SuperAwesome
We are excited to share that Veriff is now partnering with SuperAwesome, an Epic Games company, in its joint mission to build safer experiences for children online and protect them.
Karita Sall
According to Veriff’s 2022 survey, 8 out of 10 parents are worried about their child’s online safety, and these concerns are only set to grow as the online world evolves. As more kids interact online than ever before, it's incredibly important for parents and guardians to know that their children are being careful whenever they're connected to the Internet. We had a chat with Paul Nunn, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Developer Relations at SuperAwesome, to discuss the importance of parent verification and the company’s partnership with Veriff. Thank you for taking the time to chat with us, Paul.
Let’s start with a brief intro to SuperAwesome and Kids Web Services.
SuperAwesome was founded to build a safer internet for the next generation. To accomplish this goal, we make products that enable developers and brands to safely engage with youth audiences around the world.
KWS (Kids Web Services) is a set of free tools that help developers and platforms to welcome youth audiences into their experiences in compliance with privacy laws. We operate the Consent Management and Parent Verification flows used in some of the leading games and account systems in the world.
When any platform, game, or service has an audience with a mix of ages, there are a number of important considerations regarding the youth cohort; specifically for users under the age of digital consent. KWS tools and services provide scaled solutions to important privacy challenges faced when dealing with these audiences globally. KWS solutions are white labeled and can be found in some of the biggest games on the market. For example, our Parent Verification product is used by our parent company Epic Games, along with other leading developers around the globe. Our goal is to give every developer free access to the same market-leading tools and services that power some of the largest account systems in the world.
Why is it important to verify the adult status of parents?
Parent verification is the process of verifying the adult status of a parent or guardian so they can give consent for their children to access features or games that require the collection of their data. It is an essential portion of verifiable parental consent that is core to compliance legislation such as COPPA in the US and GDPR in Europe.
Performing parent verification globally can be a daunting challenge for a developer. KWS aggregates several of the best methods for verifying adult status, including the ID verification provided by Veriff, so that every parent has a choice in the methods they can use to verify that they are an adult. This choice is crucial to improving the user experience for a parent, increasing the conversion rate through the process and getting more players into games and experiences for the developer.
Once verified with our Parent Verification service, a parent does not need to repeat the process to verify their adult status for any other experience or game that their child plays that uses KWS. These parents are added to the KWS ParentGraph, which currently contains over 15 million pre-verified parents.
Parent verification is an important step to keep kids safe online. What initiatives do you have already in place?
Providing access to the right verification options to all parents, no matter their country or language, is a huge challenge. KWS allows developers to choose from the best available methods, including ID Scan, Payment Card, Social Security number check, and Face Scan (in certain countries). Veriff is a leading partner for us on the ID Scan method.
Veriff helps us to effectively manage ID Scan verification in many markets globally, and at a very large concurrent scale. Given the size of our partners and the nature of games and platforms in terms of peak usage periods, it is incredibly important that we work with best-in-class technology partners to deliver these services into KWS.
"Our partnership with Veriff helps us to effectively manage ID Scan verification globally, and at a very large concurrent scale. It is incredibly important that we work with best-in-class technology partners to deliver these services to SuperAwesome’s Kids Web Services."
What are the main challenges with parent verification, and how does Veriff help?
The obvious challenge around parent verification is the friction it can create. However, it’s extremely important that platforms and experiences ensure that users under the age of digital consent are only able to access features or functionality that collect personally identifiable information after a verified adult has provided consent.
Our approach to reduce this user friction is to offer developers customisable tools allowing them to easily integrate multiple verification methods into their service - providing parents with choice. Then, we use the ParentGraph to ensure that no parent has to verify more than once. This is ultimately how we see the best possible results for both parents and developers. If large platforms and game developers work together in this way, parents will see their experience improve, and they will more seamlessly be able to provide consent and verification. Plus the platforms and developers themselves will see improving conversion rates and be able to open their experiences to the largest possible audience.
How did you come across Veriff’s solution and what made you choose Veriff?
We first encountered Veriff’s solution when it was adopted by several large platforms. We reached out, tested the tools, and found that Veriff offered a high-quality solution that shared our focus on creating a smooth user experience. Working with the Veriff tools and in partnership with your team has been effective to improve our services for parents and developers.
"We are thrilled to partner with SuperAwesome in our joint commitment to providing safety and transparency for the gaming community and kids online. As the gaming industry has seen rapid growth in recent years, identity verification enables us to unlock the potential without sacrificing security online."
Can you share a bit more about the future of SuperAwesome?
Our focus is to continue to enhance our tools and grow the ParentGraph. While these goals may sound simple, they are our guiding light to keeping young audiences safe online and providing easier ways for parents and developers to do so.
We want to help developers create safe and fun experiences for young audiences, and help parents gain an understanding of their children’s online activities. Our goal is to help more developers make their experiences available to young audiences safely, and not feel like they need to restrict their access unnecessarily. We are proud that our tools are available for free to help make the internet safer for the next generation.
About SuperAwesome
Founded in 2013 and acquired by Epic Games in 2020, SuperAwesome is building a safer internet for the next generation. Used by hundreds of creators, content owners, and brands, our award-winning technology enables safe, authentic digital engagement with one billion young people from Gen Alpha and Gen Z every month.
Our Kids Web Services (KWS) developer tools are offered to all partners free of charge, enabling them to engage audiences of all ages. KWS includes Parent Verification and our ParentGraph, the world’s largest network of pre-verified parents, with over 15 million parents and counting.
