The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has introduced the Age Appropriate Design Code, a new set of standards aimed at safeguarding children in the digital playground. This code, now in effect, brings forth crucial regulations for digital platforms and companies to ensure age-appropriate experiences for young users.
Recent data from the OECD highlights that over 90% of 15-year-olds frequently engage in online chatting, emphasizing the need for enhanced safety measures in the digital landscape.
Major internet players like Facebook, Google, and TikTok have already taken significant steps to comply with the code, implementing changes to their services and features tailored for children. The UK government led a comprehensive program called Verification of Children Online (VoCO) that brought together industry stakeholders, mobile operators, and internet service providers, including TikTok, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, to explore this topic in depth before the code’s implementation.
As part of the VoCO program, technical trials were successfully conducted, involving BT and TrustElevate, a provider of child age verification and parental consent services. These trials demonstrated the feasibility of reliably verifying all ages, including under-16s, and under-13s asserting parental responsibility to grant, deny, or revoke consent for data processing, purchases, and access.
An identity standards-based approach emerged from the program, enabling global businesses to comply with regulatory requirements outlined in various regulations, such as the Data Protection Regulation, US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, Payment Services Directive, and Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
The VoCO program also prioritized child-centric research, aiming to empower digital parenting in all settings, including children in care.
To ensure children’s safety, companies now have an opportunity to meet age-checking and parental-consent requirements. Various services, such as age estimation services relying on children’s data, including biometric data in some cases, have been developed to address these needs.
In the digital realm, children face potential threats such as cyberbullying, encounters with online predators, and exposure to inappropriate content. The Age Appropriate Design Code seeks to minimize these risks and create a safer environment for young users.