Ofcom’s age check verification requirements will come into force tomorrow, the 25th of July, as the regulator prepares to enforce the new regulation under the Online Safety Act.

Sites and apps which allow harmful content – including pornography – must protect children from accessing it from the end of this week, the regulator warned, as the deadline approaches for tech firms to comply with new rules.

The changes mean that risky sites and apps – large and small – must use highly effective ‘age gating’ methods to identify which users are children, and then prevent them from accessing pornography, as well as self-harm, suicide, and eating disorder content.

Porn Sites

Over the last month, the UK’s biggest and most popular adult service providers – including Porn Hub – plus thousands of smaller sites, have committed to deploying age-checks across their services.

Other online platforms have now announced they will deploy age assurance – including Bluesky, Discord, Grindr, Reddit, and X.

Ofcom is ready to enforce against any company which allows pornographic content and does not comply with age-check requirements by the deadline.

The regulator is now extending its existing age assurance enforcement programme, previously focused on studio porn services – to cover all platforms that allow users to share pornographic material, whether they are dedicated adult sites or other services that include pornography.

Ofcom says it will be actively checking compliance from 25 July, and is prepared to launch any investigations into non-compliant services next week.

Shielding Children 

Under the new rules, sites that allow other forms of harmful content must also have highly effective age checks from 25 July.

Ofcom is launching a new age assurance enforcement programme, building on work undertaken by its ‘small but risky taskforce’ to monitor the response from industry. This will specifically target sites dedicated to the dissemination of harmful content, including self-harm and suicide, eating disorders, or extreme violence and gore.

As well as preventing children from encountering the most harmful content, Ofcom’s codes also demand that online services act to protect children from dangerous stunts or challenges, misogynistic, violent, hateful or abusive material, and online bullying.

To hold sites and apps to account, the regulator is launching an extensive monitoring and impact programme, primarily focused on the biggest platforms where children spend the most time – including Facebook, Instagram, Roblox, Snap, TikTok, and YouTube.

Recommended

• Ofcom Cracks Down on Weak Age Verification
• Ofcom: All Porn Sites Must Introduce Age Verification
• Ofcom: Porn Sites Face July Deadline for Age Checks

Parental Support 

Ofcom’s newly released research also shows that the majority of UK parents believe that regulator’s Protection of Children Codes will improve the safety of children.

Over seven in ten (71%) feel that the measures overall will make a positive difference to children’s safety online, while over three-quarters (77%) are optimistic that age checks specifically will keep children safer.

Nine in ten parents (90%) agree that it is important for tech firms to follow Ofcom’s rules, but a significant minority (41%) are sceptical about whether tech firms will comply in practice.

“Prioritising clicks and engagement over children’s online safety will no longer be tolerated in the UK,” Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Executive said.

“Our message to tech firms is clear – comply with age-checks and other protection measures set out in our Codes, or face the consequences of enforcement action from Ofcom.”