Online Safety Act’s provisions on children’s data start to kick in
Organisations in scope of the Online Safety Act must carry out an assessment by 16 April 2025 to determine if their services are likely to be accessed by children. If so, they will fall under the scope of the child harms duties which means having to conduct a risk assessment and protect those determined to be under the age of 18 from accessing content that may not be considered age-appropriate for them.
In January, Ofcom published industry guidance on what constitutes "highly effective" age assurance, summarising their standards for using age assurance technologies to combat illegal content online, ahead of broader safety measures aimed at protecting children, expected this spring. This guidance sets out a non-exhaustive list of methods that will be considered “highly effective” such as open banking, facial age estimation, credit card checks, email-based age estimation, and photo ID matching.
Ellie Colegate, Horizon CDT PhD Researcher - School of Law at the University of Nottingham, whose current work examines the Act in relation to the protection of children, said:
“The new update and introduction of formal guidance from Ofcom for companies and stakeholders represent a real milestone in the UK’s enactment of online safety regulations. Companies must now incorporate age assurance technologies to ensure their services are safe by design for child-aged users, thereby protecting them from illegal content. Additionally, with the forthcoming children's safety guidance that is expected to work in tandem with age assurance technologies, there are opportunities for everyone involved to reflect on how children can be protected but, at the same time, allow the user group to continue to be active digital citizens online moving forward.”
On 11 March, PL&B has organised, together with A&O Shearman, a conference, What's right for children and their data? Keeping on the right side of the law, including a session on age assurance, chaired by Ellie Colegate, and with speakers from 5Rights, Yoti, Verifymy, and A&O Shearman.