Ofcom: new guidance published to protecting children from online pornography

Those publishing pornographic content online will be required to use age assurance measures such as credit card checks and photo ID matching on users under a new published drafted guidance in the Online Safety Act.

Online safety regulator Ofcom outlined how platforms can protect children from pornography to ensure firms comply with the new internet laws. The draft guidance says websites must use methods which are technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair to carry out age checks, and recommends firms consider options such as open banking – where a user consents to their bank sharing information confirming they are over 18.

Ofcom also suggests other methods which could be used, such as photo ID matching where an uploaded document such as a passport is compared with an image taken at that moment; verified facial age estimation technology; mobile network age checks which automatically block age-restricted websites if the operator knows the user is under 18; credit card checks or digital identity wallets where a user’s proof of age is stored digitally and can be shared with the online pornography service.

However, the regulator said certain approaches would not meet its new standards, including self-declaration of age, online payments methods which do not require a person to be 18, such as a debit card, or general terms, disclaimers or warnings about content.

Under the Online Safety Act, platforms which do not comply with the new laws will face enforcement action, including possible fines.

“Pornography is too readily accessible to children online, and the new online safety laws are clear that must change,” Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said. "Our practical guidance sets out a range of methods for highly effective age checks. We’re clear that weaker methods – such as allowing users to self-declare their age – won’t meet this standard.

“Regardless of their approach, we expect all services to offer robust protection to children from stumbling across pornography, and also to take care that privacy rights and freedoms for adults to access legal content are safeguarded.”

Ofcom said it would continue to work with online pornography services to finalise the draft guidance before a final version is published in early 2025, from which the government will bring the duties set out in it into force.