United Kingdom: Office of Communications released updated guidance on highly effective age assurance for Part 3 services

On 24 April 2025, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) released the guidance on highly effective age assurance for Part 3 services, providing detailed recommendations for implementing age verification processes to comply with the Online Safety Act 2023. The guidance supports providers of regulated user-to-user and search services in understanding and applying highly effective age assurance methods, such as open banking, photo-identification matching, and facial age estimation. It emphasises the importance of ensuring that age assurance processes are technically accurate, robust, reliable, and fair, while also considering accessibility and interoperability. The guidance aligns with data protection principles, encouraging providers to adopt a data protection by design approach and to consult the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) guidelines to safeguard user privacy while implementing age assurance measures.