Porn users faces fit dey scanned to prove dia age, wit extra checks for adults wey look young, draft guidance from Ofcom suggest.
Di watchdog don set out some ways wey explicit sites fit stop children make dem no watch pornography.
Di average age wey children first see pornography na 13, one survey suggest.
Explicit website Pornhub tok say regulations need collect “highly sensitive personal informate” wey fit cause gbege for user safety.
Privacy campaigners don also criticise di proposal to warn say “gbege” outcome fit dey if data from age checks dey leaked.
One big UK population dey watch online pornography – nearly 14 million pipo, according to one recent report by Ofcom.
But di easy access to online pornography don also raise concerns say children dey view explicit websites – wit one out of ten children dey see am by age nine, according to one survey by di Children Commissioner.
Di Online Safety Act, wey recently become law, require say make social media platforms and search engines protect children from harmful content online.
E go dey enforced by Ofcom, wey fit issue large fines if firms no obey.
Ofcom now don outline how e expect firms to dey “highly effective” to obey di new regulations, wey go come into force sometime for 2025.
Acceptable methods fit include:
- require goment photographic ID like passport
- check if di user don previously get age restrictions removed from mobile phone
- credit card checks
- digital ID wallets wey store user proof of age wey fit dey shared wit di site.
- Facial age-estimation tech, wey go scan users faces and use software to infer if dey be adult, na also option.
E no dey likely say any age assurance method go dey impossible to bypass, Ofcom note say, but websites need guard against simple tricks.
For systems wey compare photo ID like passport wit user face, for example, dey need do “liveness check” to guard against pikins wey dey try use borrowed or fake ID and foto of pesin wey dey older to fool di system.
Young adults wey involve for sex education bin tell BBC say dem believe say to get dis kain protections in place go helep prevent children so dem no go expose to pornography.
Jack Liepa, director of di charity Sexpression, wey dey send university students to schools to run workshops about sex and relationships, say di Online Safety Act na positive step, but no be complete solution.
“Young pipo fit still go find ways to access dis content: older siblings fit provide access, and dey go still need turn 18 and suddenly get access, for young acceptable age”, Oga Liepa tok.
Blackmail fear
Di biggest worry among adults wey dey use porn about proving dia age na ova di safety of dia data, Ofcom tok.
Di draft guidance say sites must follow di data protection rules privacy watchdog di Information Commissioner Office (ICO) set out.
Aylo, di owners of Pornhub, say dem back di principle of age verification but don voice worry about user safety and privacy.
“Any regulations wey dey need hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect ogbonge amounts of highly sensitive personal informate dey put user safety for trouble”, e tok.
Pornhub na di 14th most visited website for di world, according to statistics from Similarweb, but face serious allege for 2020 wey relate to illegal content on di platform.
Wen di US state of Louisiana bin start age verification, Aylo tok say Pornhub traffic bin drop for like 80 percent for di state.
But e say instead make dem stop to view porn altogether, users go instead to “darker corners of di internet wey no dey ask users to verify age, wey no dey follow di law, wey no dey take user safety seriously, and wey often no even dey moderate content.”
Di company tok say for dia view age-verification need take place “on di device” – in oda words parental controls on phones and computers wey stop children to access pornography.
To use virtual private network (VPN), to mask di region wey dem dey located, na one way explicit site visitors fit try and bypass age-checks.
Simon Migliano, head of research for VPN comparison site Top10VPN.com say “For Louisiana demand for VPNs more dan triple while for Utah e surge by 847% di day afta di new age checks enta effect.
However, Oga Migliano understanding from VPN providers, na say “dis increased demand dey driven by adults no dey comfortable to disclose dia real identity while dem dey watch adult content.”
Abigail Burke of campaigning organisation, di Open Rights Group say no enough emphasis on how dem go keep data safe for di guidance.
“Di possible consequences say data fit leak dey catastrophic and fit include blackmail, fraud, relationship damage, and di outing of pipo sexual preferences for di very vulnerable circumstances,” she tok.
Balancing act
Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes, tok to Women Hour on BBC Radio 4, say operators of explicit sites go need “balance to get di verification highly effective wit preserving data privacy, wey be legal requirement.”
Yoti one company wey already provide age-estimation tech to some adult sites, say dia tech respect user privacy rights:
“E dey take about one second, no recognition of individual and di image dey instantly deleted”, di firm Julie Dawson.
Ms Dawson say no reason to wait until 2025 to enforce age-checks as “all of di age assurance technology wey Ofcom reference dey ready to use now”.
However di guidance currently publish only covers pornography websites and apps.
Draft codes of practice to cover pornography on social media platforms – one way wey many teenagers encounter pornography – go dey published for 2024.
