Member

These practical challenges include immediate concerns about implementation. The widespread use of virtual private networks by children and young people risks rendering age assurance measures ineffective. What is the Government’s response to that? Concerns remain that age assurance systems may pose a data protection or privacy threat to users. Crucially, civil society organisations are concerned that both Ofcom and the ICO have not stipulated a clear approach as to how age assurance methods will be evaluated for compliance with data protection. There are concerns also that important content, such as political debate, educational sites and information sites like Wikipedia and support forums dealing with LGBTQ+ rights or sexual health are being inappropriately age gated on social media. We raised this as a major risk during the passage of the Act. What is the Government’s response?