[co-author: Joel Othen-Lawson]

Online service providers with platforms accessible to UK children must implement more robust age-verification measures and reformulate algorithms away from "toxic" content under new draft Codes of Practice issued on 8 May 2024 by Ofcom, the UK's media regulator.

Structured over five volumes, the Children's Safety Codes of Practice ("the Draft Codes") focus on how internet services that enable people to share user-generated content ('user-to-user services') and search services should approach their new "child safety duties".

The UK's Online Safety Act (the "OSA"), which aims to make the internet safer by requiring improvements to online service providers' systems and processes, received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. It created Ofcom's powers to enforce the OSA.

The Draft Codes propose more than 40 measures to make the internet safer for children. In their current form, the Draft Codes would require affected companies to:

• Know which of their users are children.
• Configure algorithms to filter out harmful content.
• Prevent content moderation systems, such as a 'safe search' setting for children from being turned off.
• Draft and follow clear policies relating to how a company prioritises content for review.
• Ensure that content moderation teams are well-resourced and trained.
• Make it easy for users to report harmful content and file complaints.
• Implement more stringent checks to prevent children from accessing an entire site or app or limit parts of a site or app to adults.
• Emphasise senior-level involvement in children's safety.
  • Designate someone to be accountable for fulfilling children's safety duties.
  • Carry out an annual senior-level review of all risk management activities relating to children's safety.
  • Set standards in an employee Code of Conduct related to protecting children online.

What Happens Next?

The Draft Codes may change, possibly in a significant way, before they are published in final form. Ofcom will also likely supplement the Draft Codes with additional guidance.

Some guidance in the Draft Codes appears to contradict Ofcom's recent public statements. One of the methods of age assurance recommended in the Draft Codes is facial age estimation. However, in public comments, Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom's Chief Executive, stated that she does not believe that facial age estimation is effective for younger children, due to their differing rates of development and appearance across age groups. Some UK parliamentarians, meanwhile, have said the proposals do not go far enough and that the Draft Codes should be requiring age assurance to prevent under 13s accessing social media.

Whatever the final codes look like, the requirements will mean providers of online services to children may need to rethink their approach to providing those services and ensure that they prioritise child safety over commercial concerns.