UK Delays Age-Verification, May Extend Measure to Social Media

LONDON – Appearing before the UK Parliament’s Science and Technology Select Committee Tuesday, Margot James, the Minister of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, announced that age-verification measures which had been due to come into force by the end of 2018 will be delayed until April of next year.

Originally, the system was slated to begin operating last April, meaning that if the government sticks to its new schedule, the rules will come into force a full year after the initial deadline.

“We can expect it to be in force by Easter of next year and I make that timetable through the knowledge we have laid the necessary secondary legislation before parliament,” James said. “I am hopeful of getting a slot to debate it before the end of the year.”

James said the April date reflects a planned delay in implementation of the rules, once they have been finalized, to give websites subject to them time to come into compliance.

“We have always said that we will permit the industry three months of getting up to speed with the practicalities and delivering the age verification that they will be required by law to deliver,” James said. “We have also had to establish with the British Board for Film Classification (BBFC), which has become the regulator, and they have had to consult on the methods of age verification.”

Along with relating the new time frame for implementation of the rules, James confirmed the UK government is looking at extending the age-verification requirement to cover social media platforms, as well.

Under questioning from MPs about why the age-verification system didn’t apply to social media, James said this fact was “a weakness” in the current legislation, adding that the government was keeping an eye on the level of adult content published to social media.

“We have decided to start with the commercial operations while we bring in the age verification techniques that haven’t been widely used to date,” James said. “We will keep a watching brief on how effective those age verification techniques turn out to be with the commercial (adult content) providers. We will also keep a close eye on how social media platforms develop in terms of the extent of pornographic material on those platforms, particularly if they are platforms that appeal to children.”

“Our priority is to make the internet safer for children and this is best achieved by taking time to get the implementation of this important law right,” said a spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in a statement issued following James’ testimony at the select committee hearing. “We hope to have the legislation in place by the end of the year, subject to Parliamentary proceedings. The powers will then come into force following a three-month implementation period.”

Last month, the BBFC unveiled a new website which provides information on the coming age-verification requirements, but as the documents available on the site reveal, a great many details of the system remain to be determined.