New draft guidance from Ofcom intends to make it much harder for under-18s to access pornography websites, in keeping with the requirements of the new Online Safety Act.
The guidelines, which are open to consultation until March 2024, do not recommend specific age-verification systems but include those that “could be considered highly effective” such as facial technology combined with credit card checks.
In contrast, Ofcom emphasised that “self-declaration of age”, “general terms, disclaimers or warnings” would fall foul of its requirements. Firms that fail to comply could be fined up to £18m or 10% of their global annual revenue.
‘Devastating’
The regulator also suggested that a ‘challenge age’ approach could be used, similar to when purchasing alcohol, where an alternative age check would be required if facial technology deemed a user to be under 25-years-old.
It aims to publish its final guidance in 2025 after considering consultation responses, while a separate consultation applying to social media websites is due to begin in spring.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Michelle Donelan said: “Pornography can have an absolutely devastating impact on children and their view of healthy relationships. Right now, 13 is the average age at which a child first encounters it online.”
“Companies must now work closely with Ofcom to ensure they have robust checks in place to stop children from seeing harmful content that they can never unsee.”
Online Safety Act
In October, the Government’s Online Safety Bill became law after receiving Royal Assent.
Ofcom is due to gradually implement the Act’s measures, which require both social media and pornography websites to implement age-verification measures that are “highly effective at correctly determining whether or not a particular user is a child”.
Similar checks were approved under the Digital Economy Act 2017, but plans to implement them were abandoned in 2019.
The Christian Institute’s Ciarán Kelly said it is high time “for Ofcom to focus on making the law bite”.
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