United Kingdom: Office of Communications announced enforcement programme under the Online Safety Act 2023 targeting compliance with age assurance obligations

On 24 July 2025, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) announced the initiation of an enforcement programme under the Online Safety Act 2023, targeting compliance among user-to-user service providers with the duty to deploy age assurance mechanisms. The programme focuses on services whose principal purpose is to disseminate "Primary Priority Content" and on their obligations to prevent children from encountering content promoting suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, or pornography, as set out in Section 12 of the Act and Ofcom’s Protection of Children Code of Practice. The enforcement programme will run for approximately 4 months and will involve engagement with service providers through Ofcom’s compliance taskforce to assess current industry practices and the implementation of age assurance measures across the United Kingdom.