{"id":121041,"date":"2026-03-12T22:06:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T01:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/899055047"},"modified":"2026-03-12T22:06:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T01:06:55","slug":"data-regulator-issues-stark-child-safety-warning-to-tech-firms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/data-regulator-issues-stark-child-safety-warning-to-tech-firms\/","title":{"rendered":"Data regulator issues stark child safety warning to tech firms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The UK\u2019s data regulator has demanded tech platforms hosting social media and video sharing content act immediately to strengthen age assurance measures in the name of child safety.<\/p>\n

In an open letter to applicable firms, the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office (ICO) said that the technologies required to prevent children from accessing harmful content are \u201creadily available\u201d, yet many services still offer sub-standard measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cAge assurance technologies have rapidly advanced in recent years,\u201d the ICO said. \u201cWe are concerned that services have not yet implemented the technology that is now available to protect young children.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bulk of social media platforms currently have a minimum age of 13, however, the ICO notes that in many cases, the only age verification check in place is a self-declaration from the user.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means underage children can easily access services that have not been designed for them. This puts under-13s at risk by allowing their information to be collected and used unlawfully, without the protections they are entitled to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ICO said risks to children are \u201cgrowing\u201d and the \u201cnow is the time to act\u201d to ensure they can be kept safe.<\/p>\n

The watchdog said technologies including facial age estimation, digital IDs or one-time photo matching are far more effective than the easily circumvented self-declaration process.<\/p>\n

It has, however, also warned that age assurance checks must not infringe with users\u2019 data rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny age assurance technology you choose must comply with data protection law. It must be lawful, fair, proportionate, secure, collect the minimum data necessary, and be clearly explained to users in an age-appropriate way.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… \u00e2\u0080\u0099s data regulator has demanded tech<\/span> platforms hosting social media and … services have not yet implemented the technology<\/span> that is now available to … \u00e2\u0080\u0099 data rights. \u00e2\u0080\u009cAny age assurance technology<\/span> you choose must comply with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}