Ofcom Unveils Definitive Age Assurance Guidelines: What You Need to Know!

After consultation, Ofcom has unveiled its latest industry guidance which delineates how it anticipates sites and applications to implement “exceptionally effective” age assurance under the Online Safety Act 2023. While the guidance is aimed at limiting access to pornographic material, it applies to any organization seeking to carry out online age verification efficiently.

To summarize, Ofcom’s conclusive stance on age assurance:

• confirms that any age verification techniques utilized by services must be technically precise, robust, dependable, and equitable to be regarded as exceptionally effective;
• provides a non-exhaustive enumeration of techniques that we perceive as capable of being highly effective. These consist of: open banking, photo ID verification, facial age estimation, mobile network operator age verification, credit card verification, digital identity services, and email-based age estimation;
• affirms that techniques such as self-declaration of age and online transactions which do not necessitate an individual to be 18 are not deemed exceptionally effective;
• insists that pornographic content must not be visible to users prior to, or during, the execution of an age verification process. Services must neither host nor allow content that directs or encourages users to evade an age assurance procedure; and
• sets forth the expectation that sites and applications take into account the interests of all users when establishing age assurance – delivering strong protection to minors while ensuring that privacy rights are honored and adults can still access lawful pornography.

Ofcom believes that this approach will lead to the most favorable outcomes for child protection online during the initial phase of the Act’s enforcement. Ofcom has opted not to implement numerical thresholds for exceptionally effective age assurance at this point (like 99% accuracy). However, it recognizes that numerical thresholds may become pertinent in the future, contingent on ongoing developments in testing methodologies, industry norms, and independent studies.

Ofcom anticipates all services to adopt a proactive stance regarding compliance and meeting their respective implementation timelines. It is launching an age assurance enforcement initiative, directing its efforts first at services that showcase or publish their own pornographic content. It will be reaching out to a variety of adult services to inform them of their new responsibilities and asserts that it will not hesitate to take action and initiate investigations against services that do not engage or ultimately comply.

Every service that permits pornography must have exceptionally effective age checks implemented by July 2025 to shield children from accessing it. This requirement holds whether a service publishes its own pornographic content or allows user-generated pornographic material.

Numerous platforms will likely already have age assurance protocols established under the ICO’s Children’s Code, whose guidance now pertains to the requirements of the OSA, but will need to conduct the requisite risk assessments under the OSA along with ensuring that their age assurance protocols are sturdy.

Ofcom has faced criticism for adopting too cautious an approach to the implementation of the OSA, so it might be attempting to alter this perception with this guidance.