The UK government is planning to introduce new legislation to futher regulate how tech firms verify the ages of users as the country bids to make the online sphere safer for children.

Announced by digital minister Lisa Nandy, the plans aim to make it “impossible” for children to view or share nude images on devices.

The device-level rules would see all phones and tablets sold in the UK verify their users age via “highly effective age assurace” which could be done with a credit card or a government ID.

The government is also exploring an option that would require any app used by a child to prevent them from seeing or sharing nude images.

The proposals have yet to fully flesh out the technical means to make the new rules a reality – Nandy desrcibed “end-to-end encryption” as a particular problem, though the government is seeking solutions.

The government has been pushing tech companies to set out ways to further protect children at the device-level from online harms.

While Nandy said that Apple and Google have both made “meaningful changes at the operating level”, these steps in the right direction were so far falling short of addressing the full crisis.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said of the proposals: “It will be for the companies to prove a user is an adult, not for a child to keep themselves out of harm’s way. No country has required that before. Britain will be the first, and we will have the strongest child safety laws in the world.”

Child safety campaigners have supported the proposals, with the NSPCC chief executive describing the plans as a “necessary move” given the scale of the problem and the delays in implementation.

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However, privacy advocates have warned that the legislation would mean that all devices would come with “surveillence software”, describing the plan as “a crossing of the Rubicon that would make the UK one of the most authoritarian internet regimes in the world.”

The first regulations are expected to be layed out by the government by the end of the year, Nandy said.

The new proposed legislation comes after the government has decided to ban social media for children under the age of 16, as it continues to debate putting restrictions of children using AI chatbots.