Age verification measures are rapidly gaining momentum across Europe, with regulators stepping up efforts to protect children online. Recently, the U.K.’s communications regulator, Ofcom, updated its timeline for implementing the Online Safety Act, while France’s ARCOM has released technical guidance detailing age verification standards. Ireland’s media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, recently finalized its Online Safety Code, and lawmakers in the Netherlands have introduced a new proposal mandating age verification for adult websites.
In this article, we examine how providers of online adult content can navigate these emerging age-related regulations to ensure compliance across European markets.
Having to deal with a barrage of varied age verification requirements presents challenges for adult companies.
The UK and the Online Safety Act
The U.K.’s Online Safety Act represents one of the most significant legislative changes in the digital landscape for over a decade. The OSA will bring sweeping regulations intended to protect users — particularly children — from illegal or harmful online content.
Central to these regulations is the legal obligation for adult sites, user-to-user and social media platforms to take proactive measures to remove illegal content, prevent exposure to harmful materials and verify the ages of users accessing adult content.
Any platform with U.K.-based traffic will be required to comply with these regulations, regardless of where the site is hosted. This means that all adult sites with U.K. users must prepare for compliance or risk severe penalties.
Regulator Ofcom will enforce a “duty of care” whereby platforms have an obligation to protect users, especially children, from harmful content. This includes implementing “highly effective age assurance” to prevent kids from being exposed to high-risk “primary priority harms,” including pornography.
Age assurance technology comprises age verification or estimation methods, which can be used to determine a user’s age or age range. Although the specifics of the age assurance requirement have yet to be fully defined, it is clear that basic or outdated age-check systems — such as a simple yes/no checkbox or self-declared age — will not suffice.
The bottom line: Come 2025, if you provide services that host pornographic content and have users in the U.K., you must implement age verification and/or age estimation technology deemed “highly effective” in determining whether or not a user is a child.
On Oct. 17, Ofcom provided an update on its progress since the Online Safety Act became law. Ofcom will publish codes of practice to guide companies that fall under the OSA in complying with the new requirements. Milestones are split into three key phases, with pornography providers falling into Phase Two of the OSA: child safety, pornography and the protection of women and girls.
Here are some key OSA timings and actions to look out for:
January 2025: Ofcom will issue final age assurance guidance for publishers of pornographic content, and enforcement will begin. Ofcom will publish final guidance on children’s access assessments, and service providers will have three months to complete them.
February 2025: Draft guidance on protecting women and girls will be published, addressing content and activities that disproportionately impact them.
April 2025: The Protection of Children Codes and risk assessment guidance will be published. Services likely to be accessed by children must conduct children’s risk assessments within three months, by July 2025.
July 2025: Child protection safety duties expected to become enforceable.
Additionally, the U.K. and the U.S. have announced a new working group to share expertise and information on child online safety. This will foster a lot of important discussions, including standardization of data protection requirements and creating consistency in the demands being placed upon platforms around age assurance and harmful/illegal content.
Ireland
The Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland’s media regulator, published its finalized Online Safety Code in October following an in-depth consultation with industry stakeholders. This new code establishes mandatory guidelines for video-sharing platforms headquartered in Ireland and serving the EU.
Key provisions include a prohibition on uploading or sharing harmful content, especially videos that may endanger public safety or well-being. Platforms are also required to implement robust age assurance systems to prevent children from accessing explicit content, such as pornography or graphic violence, employing age verification measures as needed.
Additionally, the code mandates that parental controls be provided to help safeguard children under 16 from content that could harm their physical, mental or moral development.
France
French regulator Arcom will require pornographic websites with French users to implement age verification systems by Jan. 11, 2025. This requirement also extends to other user-to-user platforms that allow access to adult content, as outlined in the agency’s newly released technical reference guide for verification.
That document outlines a detailed framework for implementing age verification, including a process for auditing and assessing AV systems. It notes that its requirements “concern both the reliability of user age control and respect for their privacy.” The guidelines require verification for each website visit or after an inactivity period of at least one hour.
Additionally, Arcom holds the authority to enforce compliance. Failure to meet the requirements could result in fines of up to 4% of a site’s annual global revenue and potential blocking of access to the site.
Netherlands
Two members of the Dutch House of Representatives have proposed a motion urging the government to mandate age verification for adult websites, which has received support from a majority of lawmakers.
The motion states, “Despite the harmfulness, minors in the Netherlands still have easy access to websites for online gambling or with pornographic content, while in countries such as Spain, France and the United Kingdom such national legislation is in development or may even come into force soon.” The proposal requests that the government establish a legal framework to ensure “privacy-friendly and reliable age verification” for online gambling sites and adult content platforms.
Looking Forward
Having to deal with a barrage of varied age verification requirements presents challenges for adult companies. Fortunately, modern age assurance technologies can deliver fast, accurate and inclusive verification processes that minimize user friction, protect revenue and preserve privacy. By adopting effective solutions now, adult platforms can ensure compliance when the regulations across Europe come into effect.
Gavin Worrall is VP of Global Strategic Partnerships at VerifyMy, a safety technology provider with a vision to provide solutions that safeguard children and society online. Spanning age assurance, identity verification, content moderation and consent management, VerifyMy seeks to offer frictionless, trustworthy solutions for online platforms to maintain their integrity, protect their reputation and safeguard their users. He can be reached at sales@verifymy.io.
