Online age verification legislation

11. The Government’s initial response to the White Paper, published in February 2020, outlines our proposals for tackling online harms and delivering a higher level of protection for children than for the typical adult user. We set out the expectation that companies would use a proportionate range of tools, including age assurance and age verification technologies, to prevent children from accessing age-inappropriate content such as online pornography, and to protect them from other harms. 12. The Government has been clear that we expect companies to use a range of tools now to protect children online and that we expect that age assurance methods, including age verification, will play a key role in the online harms regulatory framework. We are committed to the UK becoming a world leader in the development of online safety technology and to ensuring that companies of all sizes have access to, and adopt, innovative solutions to improve the safety of their users. We are working closely with stakeholders to consider what could be delivered ahead of, and through, the online harms regulatory framework. 13. Over the last 12 months DCMS has supported the ‘Verification of Children Online’ (VoCO) child safety research project. The report on the project’s second phase was published this month. This joint GCHQ, DCMS and Home Office project responds to the technical challenges associated with providing children with a greater level of protection from online harms and explores the feasibility of identifying child users online. The VoCO project has attempted to capture the experiences and needs of children, parents and platforms to identify what support and incentives are needed for platforms to start age assuring their users. 14. Knowing which users are children, and what age band they are in, is critical to protecting children online. If online services know which of their users are children, they are able to provide them with a higher level of protection, including preventing access to age inappropriate content. Age assurance is the term given to the broad range of technical measures that can be used by an online service to establish the age of their users. The VoCO project showed that there are a range of age assurance methods, supported by different data sources, that companies can use to assess the age of their users. Different age assurance methods provide differing levels of confidence in the age of the child. Age verification is one type of age assurance measure and provides the highest level of confidence in the assessed age of the child. Current age verification measures are effectively a full identity check. 15. The VoCO report sets out that the age assurance method used by a platform should be proportionate to the likely risk posed to a child by that platform. The report suggests that in assessing risk, companies should take into account factors such as the type of content hosted on the service, its features, and its user base. This approach is aligned with the risk-based and proportionate approach to tackling online harms that is set out in the Online Harms White Paper, published in April 2019. 16. In addition, ahead of the implementation of the new regulatory framework, the Government will continue to encourage companies to take early action to address online harms. The White Paper sets out high-level expectations of companies, including specific expectations in relation to certain harms, such as protecting children from accessing inappropriate content online. Ahead of legislation, the Government will publish guidance on embedding ‘safety by design’ principles into the design and development of online products and services. This will serve as best practice for reducing online harms for users, especially children. We are also developing a ‘one-stop shop’ to give companies practical guidance on keeping children safe online. This will help companies understand their existing legal responsibilities and learn from best practice.

The Government has been clear that we expect companies to use a range of tools now to protect children online and that we expect that age assurance methods, including age verification, will play a key role in the online harms regulatory framework.