Yoti challenges academic research, invites independent audit of age assurance platform Yoti has publicly challenged research presented by academics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of California, Irvine, and invited an independent cybersecurity audit of its age assurance platform in an effort to rebut claims about how it handles user data. The dispute highlights growing scrutiny of age assurance technologies as governments increasingly require age checks for access to online content and services. It also marks an unusual move by a leading provider, which is responding to criticism not only with public rebuttals but by offering independent verification of its systems. Researchers presenting at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy argued that Yoti’s age verification process transmits personal information to third- and fourth-party companies, including credit card providers, geolocation services and data brokers. An article from the blog of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing summarizes: “The researchers found that the information being shared can be used to identify and track devices. For example, a single verification attempt may transmit a user’s facial image, IP address, and device fingerprint to credit card companies.” Yoti CEO Robin Tombs rejected those claims in an open letter, calling allegations that facial image data is shared with third parties “wholly false.” Rather than limiting its response to public criticism, Yoti has challenged the researchers to nominate an independent cybersecurity expert to review the company’s technology and verify how user data is handled. Yoti says claims are ‘wholly false’ “The allegation that Yoti’s age verification platforms transmits facial image data to any third party is wholly false,” says Yoti CEO Robin Tombs, in an open letter that calls for a redaction of the articles in which the claim is made, and a public apology from the two U.S. schools. “Our systems are