Ireland publishes age assurance rules

Ireland’s Online Safety Code has been published to establish age assurance rules and regulate content for online video-sharing platforms with European headquarters in Ireland. The Age Verification Provider’s Association (AVPA) is not impressed.

Media regulator Coimisiún na Meán published the 32-page Code this week. The code sets the rules for online platforms, which are different “depending on their size and nature,” under the authority of the Online Safety & Media Regulation Act.

Age verification is mandatory under the code for video-sharing platforms that host “content which may impair the physical, mental or moral development of minors.” This is defined as “pornography and extreme or gratuitous violence,” which is collectively considered “adult-only video content.”

Age estimation is explicitly considered among “effective age assurance measures” in the code. Beyond that, age assurance is not clearly defined, though self-declaration is out.

Platforms must update their terms and conditions for using the service in several ways. Attempts to circumvent age assurance measures, like using a VPN, will become grounds for service denial.

The Code also prohibits certain kinds of videos from being uploaded to or shared on platforms, and forces platforms to provide parental controls over who their children under 16 years old can share content with, and how long they can use the platform for.

In comments under a LinkedIn post from the regulator, the AVPA says “it was a shame that plans in the draft guidance to use age assurance to keep the youngest children off social media did not make it through to the final regulations,” but notes that Ireland has followed the path of regulators in several other jurisdictions in that regard.

The AVPA notes that major platforms will still have to answer to the European Commission, and therefore still have age assurance requirements. The group expresses hope that the code will introduce the same requirements more broadly in future iterations.

UK edges towards implementation

The UK is in the midst of a multi-year implementation of its online safety rules, and stakeholders are trying to understand its implications.

The one pornographer interviewed for the report warns that the cost of implementing age checks compliant with the UK’s incoming rules will be onerous. Not everyone believes its claims.

A report on the potential impact of the Online Safety Bill by Revealing Reality updates a previous report from 2019, based on interviews conducted from March to June of last year. The impact potential considered is that on businesses, with the report providing an estimate of how many organizations are affected, and an attempt to determine what their costs would be.

The Online Safety Bill changed between the time of those interviews and its passage in September, 2023,

Only three organizations in Tier 3, which imposes the most requirements, agreed to take part in the research, down from 11 in the 2019 version. On the general requirements for age assurance, most platforms feel their current measures are sufficient. One large gambling organization with 350 million accounts estimated a significant cost for implementing technology from a third-party age assurance provider, and others cautioned that users may respond to an increase in friction caused by age checks by turning to non-compliant websites and platforms.

The report also includes an account from a single pornography provider. The unnamed company says that at 10 to 20 pence per age verification, the Act’s requirements would increase its cost by £500,000 a month. The report helpfully notes that some age assurance providers offer checks starting at a penny per transaction.

The AVPA responds to these “curious claims” in a LinkedIn post. The group notes that the same company claims a potential loss of revenue as high as £1 million a day, which implies monthly revenue of £30 million if the reduction is 100 percent. The AVPA estimates the total cost of age assurance for the platform in question at between 0.35 percent and 1.66 percent per month of £30 million in revenue.

Yoti, meanwhile, supplies a blog post on “Understanding age assurance in the Online Safety Act,” noting that Ofcom has estimated 100,000 online services could be subject to new rules. The post outlines the timeline for the changes, places the changes in the context of other regulation, and explores how pornography providers, gaming companies and dating platforms will be affected by age verification requirements.

Article Topics

age verification  |  AVPA  |  Coimisiún na Meán (CnM)  |  Ireland  |  legislation  |  Online Safety Act  |  Online Safety Code  |  regulation  |  social media  |  UK  |  Yoti