Age Assurance (18+)

LAST UPDATED: 20 JUNE 2026 · VERSION 1.0

CruiseCtrl is a strictly 18+ service. Minors are never permitted. This notice explains how we check that everyone who joins is an adult, why we do it, what data is involved, and how we protect your privacy while doing so. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines.

1. Why we verify age

Keeping minors off the platform protects children and is required of us. As a hosting service under the EU Digital Services Act, we must take reasonable, proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors (Article 28), and our service is not directed at anyone under 18. Age assurance also supports our obligations to combat child sexual abuse material and to operate a responsible adult-oriented service.

2. How the check works

When you create an account we ask you to take a live selfie. Before the camera opens you see a clear disclaimer and give your consent. The selfie is sent to our age-verification provider, Sightengine, which uses automated facial age-estimation to estimate whether you appear to be an adult.

The estimate is used only to decide if you meet the 18+ threshold.
It is not used to identify you. We do not create, store or match a facial template or other biometric identifier.
Your selfie is never shown on your profile and is never shared with other users.

3. Human review — you are never rejected by software alone

If the automated estimate cannot confidently confirm you are 18+, a trained member of our team reviews the selfie so that a borderline result doesn't wrongly lock you out. This human fallback is a deliberate safeguard against the errors and bias that purely automated decisions can produce.

4. What we keep, and for how long

We practise strong data minimisation, in line with the EDPB's guidance on age assurance (Statement 1/2025):

A selfie that passes the check is deleted immediately after the result is recorded. We keep only a simple flag that your age was verified, and the date.
A selfie held for human review is deleted as soon as a decision is made, and in any case within [30] days.
We do not build advertising or identity profiles from this data, and we never sell it.

5. Legal basis

Your selfie may reveal information that is treated as special-category data, so we rely on your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a) GDPR), given when you choose to take the selfie, together with our need to perform the contract to give you an 18+ account and our legitimate and legal interest in keeping minors off the service. You can withdraw consent by not completing verification or by deleting your account — but without a passing age check we cannot give you access, because the service is adults-only.

6. If you are under 18

Do not attempt to use CruiseCtrl. If we learn that an account belongs to a minor, we close it and delete the associated data. If you believe a minor is using the service, tell us immediately at safety@cruisectrl.eu.

7. Your rights

You can ask us about, or object to, how we handle your age-verification data, and you can delete your account at any time from Settings → Delete account. See the Privacy Policy for the full set of rights and how to exercise them, and our Sub-processors page for Sightengine's role.

8. Contact

Questions about age assurance: privacy@cruisectrl.eu · Safety: safety@cruisectrl.eu.