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ARTICLE · 23 JANUARY 2024

Ofcom's Latest Guidance On Age Assurance Under The Online Safety Act

Cooley LLP
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This is the second draft guidance document published by Ofcom since the Online Safety Act came into force.

United KingdomPrivacy
Carolina Ljungwaldh
Carolina Ljungwaldh
James Maton
James Maton
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On 5 December 2023, the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) published for consultation its draft guidance on age assurance (and other Part 5 duties) for service providers publishing pornographic content on online services, along with an accompanying consultation paper. This is the second draft guidance document published by Ofcom since the Online Safety Act came into force.

This guidance is of wider relevance to certain U2U (user-to-user) service providers – see our November 2023 blog post for definitions and more information – because Ofcom is likely to propose similar and possibly identical age assurance measures for these service providers in spring 2024.

What duties under the Online Safety Act does the guidance apply to?

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