UK requires adult content sites to offer ‘effective’ age verification methods

The UK has spent more than a decade trying to regulate who can access adult content online and He failed, once again and once again. But things may change, as OfCom, the country’s government-approved regulator of telecommunications services, has done I finally published age verification guidelines. It’s unclear exactly how they will implement these directives, but they are baby steps.

The new commitments stem from October 2023 Internet safety lawwhich requires services to prevent children from accessing pornographic content. Ofcom has issued a filing Initial draft forecast Services in late 2023, announcing that it will publish its final guidance in early 2025 – so, we’re right on time.

“For too long, many online services that allow pornography and other harmful material have ignored the fact that children are accessing their services,” Ofcom chief executive Melanie Dawes said in a statement. “They either don’t ask for it, or when they do, the checks are minimal and easy to avoid. This means that companies treat virtually all users as if they were adults, leaving children at risk of pornography and other types of harmful content.” Today, that is starting to change.”

Firstly, Ofcom It requires all applicable services to determine whether children are likely to access any part of their offerings by April 16. In the same month, Ofcom will publish its Child Protection Rules and guidance on conducting a child risk assessment. Any service that children are likely to use will need to undertake the aforementioned assessment by July. They also need to take preventive measures if children try to use their services, such as age verification. Any site containing pornography (whether generated by the service, users or generated AI) should implement strict age checks as soon as possible.

As Ofcom says, “Age verification methods deployed by services must be technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair to be considered highly effective.” These technologies can include photo ID matching, facial age estimation, digital identity services, and mobile network operator age verification, to name a few. Users advertising their age and online payments that do not require a person to be 18 are unacceptable. Pornography should not be visible at all before or during these checks. However, the regulator stresses that services must balance protecting adult users’ privacy and access rights.

Ofcom states that it will contact many adult services about these requirements and “will not hesitate” to take action against or investigate services that ignore their obligations. Again, these exact procedures are unclear, so we will see how well these regulations are enforced.