Time over for tech firms as age checks come into force

Tech firms must adhere to Ofcom’s child safety measures or face significant penalties from today.

This marks a major step in the regulator’s phased implementation of the Online Safety Act, which aims to make the UK the safest place to be online.  

“Risky” apps and websites will now face hefty fines if they don’t comply with their duty to implement

to block children from accessing harmful content including porn and material that encourages self-harm.  

Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, said: “Prioritising clicks and engagement over children’s online safety will no longer be tolerated in the UK. Our message to tech firms is clear – comply with age-checks and other protection measures set out in our codes, or face the consequences of enforcement action from Ofcom.”     

Those that fail to adhere to the rules will risk fines of up to £18m or 10 per cent of their annual global turnover – whichever is greater. In the most extreme cases, firms may be blocked from operating in the UK altogether. 

Appropriate age assurance techniques include open banking, photo ID matching and facial age estimation. 

Under Ofcom’s codes, firms must also protect children from dangerous stunts or challenges, misogynistic, violent, hateful or abusive material, and online bullying. 

Algorithms should also be re-configured for users under the age of 18 so that the most harmful material is blocked. 

As part of its efforts to hold sites to account, Ofcom has also launched a monitoring and impact programme, primarily focused on the most popular platforms among children, including Instagram, Roblox and TikTok.

As part of the strategy, platforms must submit a "comprehensive" review of their efforts to assess risks to children by 7 August and details of actions taken to keep them safe by 30 September.  

The communications watchdog will also track children's experiences as part of its evaluation of the techniques implemented by each site. 

The new measures come into force amid a row between the regulator and campaigners over the effectiveness of the act. 

Speaking to BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg's earlier this month, Ian Russel, chair of the Molly Rose Foundation set up in memory of his daughter Molly, who took her own life in 2017, said: “I think is quite clear that Ofcom as a regulator need to do more than just be good at spinning their PR, they need to act within the bounds of the act to the strongest possible way and they’re not doing that, they are sitting in the middle pushed to one side by families who have lost people like me and pushed to the other side by the power of the big tech platforms.”    

In May, Holyrood found eating disorder content – which falls under the new rules – still ran rampant online. 

The issue was particularly bad on X – formerly known as Twitter – with multiple users sharing eating disorder ‘inspo’ (inspiration) content.