United Kingdom: Office of Communications opened consultation on updated draft Illegal Content Codes of Practice for user-to-user services including defaults protections for minors

On 30 June 2025, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) opened a consultation on the draft Illegal Content Codes of Practice for user-to-user services until 20 October 2025. These codes outline safety defaults for child-user accounts under Recommendation ICU F1, applicable to services capable of determining user age or age range. These defaults disable network expansion prompts, restrict connection lists to exclude child-user accounts, and limit direct messaging functionality to pre-approved connections unless time-critical interactions require prior informed consent. Automated location display is disabled by default for child accounts to mitigate grooming risks identified in risk assessments. Providers must apply these settings to all child-user accounts, excluding those verified as adults through highly effective age assurance meeting ICU B1's criteria for technical accuracy, robustness, reliability, and fairness. The updates form part of broader changes including new content moderation measures (ICU C11-C16), enhanced reporting requirements (ICU D15-D17), recommender system safeguards (ICU E2), settings (ICU F3), and user access (ICU H2-H3). Modifications affect existing provisions on content moderation (ICU C1, C4, C9), reporting (ICU D8-D11, D13), settings (ICU F1-F2), terms of service (ICU G1), and user controls (ICU J1-J2).