The UK has spent more than a decade trying to regulate who can access adult content online and NOT, AGAIN and AGAIN. But things can change, as OfCom, the government-approved regulator of communications services finally published its age assessment guide. What exactly, they will implement that guide is not clear, but baby steps.

The new obligations come into force in October 2023 Online Safety Actwhich requires services to prevent children from accessing pornographic content. Ofcom released a initial draft of expectations for services in late 2023, saying it will publish its final guidance in early 2025 — so, we’re on time.

“For too long, many online services have allowed pornography and other harmful material to ignore the fact that children are accessing their services,” said Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom. , in a release. “Either they don’t ask or, if they do, the checks are small and easy to avoid. That means that the companies are effectively treating all users as if they were adults, leaving out children who are likely to be exposed to pornography and other types of harmful content. Now, this is starting to change.”

First of all, Ofcom require 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 the Protection Codes on Children and guidance on conducting a children’s risk assessment. Any service likely to be used by children should carry out the said assessment in July. They must also have protective measures in place when children try to use their services, such as age verification. Any site with pornography (whether generated by the service, user or generative AI) should introduce strict age verification 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 methods may include photo ID matching, facial age estimation, digital identity services, and mobile network operator age checks, to name a few. Users who self-declare their age and online payments where a person does not have to be 18 are not acceptable methods. Pornography should not be viewed before or while these tests take place. However, the regulator emphasized that the services must balance the protection of the privacy of adult users and access rights.

Ofcom said it would 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 actions are not clear, so we will see how well these regulations will be implemented.