Ofcom has published a report on the use of age assurance, confirming that regulated services under the Online Safety Act 2023 are stepping up their efforts to implement highly effective age assurance methods, but warning that more needs to be done, particularly before the social media ban for under 16s takes effect.

The report describes a “generational shift” taking place across the UK as the number of ages checks conducted by services has increased significantly in recent months, and age assurance methods continue to be widely adopted across various industries. How effective such methods prove to be, however, is a mixed picture and the report considers the experience across different sectors, focussing particularly on pornography, social media services, and dating services.

In the case of social media services, the use of highly effective age assurance measures will only grow in importance as the social media ban for under 16s edges closer. In its report, Ofcom warns about the continued use of so-called ‘passive age inference approach’ which – rather than requiring users to undergo an ‘active’ age check (such as facial age estimation or photo ID matching) – involves a two-step process of (1) asking users to declare their age and (2) applying age inference models to infer whether a user is likely to be a child or adult by analysing their activity on the service. Ofcom reiterates that it does not regard such an approach as being capable of delivering highly effective age assurance, urges businesses to replace or supplement them with other methods which are deemed to be highly effective in Ofcom’s guidance.

Beyond its observations on particular sectors, Ofcom also identifies a number of practical steps that services should consider when designing or reviewing their age assurance systems. These include:

• Services using facial age estimation should use a challenge age approach. Similar to the ‘Challenge 25’ strategy in retail contexts, this involves requiring users who are estimated as being under a designated ‘challenge age’ to undergo a second age assurance step (for example a different age assurance method) to confirm they are over the required age.
• Services using facial age estimation should put ‘liveness detection’ in place. As Ofcom explains, this reduces the risk of children using still images of adults or pre-recorded videos to circumvent checks.
• Consider repeating age checks and/or introducing targeted and proportionate anti-circumvention measures, rather than relying on a one-time age check.
• Consider offering a variety of age assurance methods.
• Offer users an appeals process where age assessments are challenged and appropriate and prompt action is taken where necessary.
• Conduct regular due diligence on any third party age assurance vendor.

To read the report in full, click here