ICO statement on Highly Effective Age Assurance

29 Oct 2026 01:45 PM

Katie Searle, ICO Director – Children's strategy yesterday said:

“We welcome Ofcom’s rapid assessment of highly effective age assurance at the 16-age threshold and its app store report published today.  

“Age assurance plays an important role in the ICO and Ofcom's shared goal of protecting children from harm online. However, it must be implemented in a way that keeps people's personal information safe and allows them to exercise their information rights.

“We are working closely with Government and Ofcom, to ensure that data protection is considered as the new regulations are developed. This also complements our own work assessing how age assurance providers currently comply with data protection law.

"Social media and video-sharing platforms should already be putting in place appropriate age gates to ensure users under their current minimum ages – usually 13 - are not exposed to risks arising from the unlawful processing of their information.

"We urge all social media and video-sharing platforms to act now to protect underage users from harm.”

Background

For further information on the data protection principles, please see: A guide to the data protection principles.

Further information on our risk assessment work can be found in our August 2026 Children’s code strategy update: Our wider children's work.

In an open letter In March 2026, we called on social media and video sharing platforms operating in the UK to act now to strengthen age assurance measures: Open letter to social media and video sharing platforms on strengthening age assurance.