THE NEW YORK TIMES: Britain forces porn sites to get serious on ‘age-gating’

Britain recently implemented new rules requiring internet users to verify their age before entering sites with content that is potentially harmful for children, including pornography and material encouraging violence or self-harm.

The rules are part of the Online Safety Act, legislation passed in 2023 that is one of the most far-reaching efforts by a Western democracy to regulate online content.

The new age-verification rules, which went into effect July 25, aim to shield minors from harmful online content, including from websites that promote suicide or eating disorders.

The British government said that during the month of July alone, 16 per cent of teenagers had seen material online that stigmatises body types or promotes disordered eating.

The rules are being closely watched in Europe, the United States and Australia, which plans in December to remove more than 1 million young teens from social media by setting a minimum age of 16.

Here’s what to know about the act:

What do the rules cover?

The act applies to websites, social media services, consumer file cloud storage and sharing sites, online forums, dating apps and instant messaging services. All are now required to verify visitors’ ages if their platforms contain harmful or age-inappropriate content.

Beyond pornography sites, apps that have introduced age checks include Grindr, the gay dating service; Discord, the social chat app; and Reddit.

How must websites verify ages?

Asking users to click a box to confirm that they are over 18 is no longer sufficient. Platforms that have age-inappropriate content are required to use “highly effective age assurance” to bar children, a process some have referred to as “age-gating.”

Age-verification methods include requiring users to upload credit card details or a government-issued identification card or enabling a laptop’s camera to take a photo, which is scanned to estimate a user’s age.

Companies conducting age checks online cannot collect or store personal data unless necessary, according to the act.

Should websites fail to comply with the act, Britain’s media regular, Ofcom, can impose fines of up to 18 million British pounds ($24 million) or 10% of the company’s worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.

Most people in Britain support the law, but some have privacy concerns.

The majority of people in Britain — nearly 70 per cent — said that they supported the new rules, according to a YouGov poll published last week that surveyed about 4,400 adults. But only about 1 in 4 said they think the restrictions will prevent children from accessing pornography online, the survey found.

A wave of pushback has emerged, too. More than 500,000 people have signed a petition to repeal the Online Safety Act, which has been criticized by privacy rights and free speech activists. They argue that the rules are an example of government overreach and say they are dangerous for people who need to remain anonymous online.

The British government says that there are facial recognition tools that can determine the age of a user without saving their image or identifying the person in the photo, but critics have expressed concern about whether every company affected by the law has the resources to prevent data leaks.

Critics also say that the scope of the rules goes too far by including online hobby forums and a range of other sites. They say that small sites that do not have the resources to comply with the act will have to shut down.

The British government said it had no plans to repeal the act, which was passed under a Conservative government and implemented under the current Labour government. Still, Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain’s right-wing populist party Reform UK, has called for it to be repealed.

Users are using technology to get around the restrictions.

Some users say they have resorted to workarounds, such as use of a VPN, or virtual private network, to evade the age checks by creating a secure, encrypted connection between their computer and a server in another country where the rules do not apply.

Others are circumventing the rules in more unusual ways. Some have used images of the main character in the video game “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach” to mimic expressions to trick facial recognition tools, according to PetaPixel, a website focused on imaging technology.

Are there similar measures in the United States?

Yes. More than 20 states have introduced measures to restrict access to online pornography within the past three years. In June, the Supreme Court upheld a Texas law meant to prevent children from accessing sexual materials on the internet by requiring users to prove they are at least 18 before accessing such sites.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the law’s age restriction was necessary. “Unlike a store clerk,” he wrote, “a website operator cannot look at its visitors and estimate their ages. Without a requirement to submit proof of age, even clearly underage minors would be able to access sexual content undetected.”

Social media companies in the United States have argued that the onus to verify age should be on the companies that run the app stores, like Google and Apple, rather than them.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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