Discover how the Online Safety Act will reshape digital regulation in the UK, who it impacts, and how you can implement a seamless, privacy-preserving age verification solution to ensure compliance without compromising user experience.
What is the Online Safety Act?
The Online Safety Act (OSA) became law in the UK a year ago and mandates that online services take significant steps to protect children from accessing harmful content. The legislation is poised to reshape consumer expectations about how online services safeguard them from scams, fraud, and harm.
Fines for OSA non-compliance
Failure to comply with the act or putting insufficient measures to prevent kids from accessing harmful content on their platform could have a significant monetary impact on businesses. Fines for Online Safety Act non-compliance could be up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue for non-compliance.
Who does the Online Safety Act impact?
Key sectors affected by the OSA include, but are not limited to:
- Social media platforms
- Dating and discovery sites
- Adult services
- Gaming platforms
- Video-sharing platforms
Take the Ofcom questionnaire to know if the Online Safety Act will impact you.
But there are additional challenges.
Organisations that the OSA will impact are required to implement age-assurance technologies to prevent minors from accessing harmful content. Till now, age assurance was a simple self-declaration that needed the user to tick a box stating, ‘I’m over 18’. When online businesses and content services have to move from this simplicity and anonymity to a more robust age assurance method, they’re concerned about user drop-offs because of increased friction and lack of anonymity.
How to meet Online Safety Act compliance?
To address these challenges, OneID® offers a bank-based identity and age verification solution that ensures compliance with the OSA while preserving user privacy. The solution is frictionless and one of the most robust, reliable, and fair methods for age assurance. With 50 million adults in the UK able to prove their age through online banking, OneID provides a highly effective and privacy-preserving verification process.
Unlike traditional methods that require users to upload documents or undergo intrusive verifications, OneID’s process is quick and confidential and gives users complete control over the information they share. For businesses, this means a seamless experience for their customers while complying with the law—without the risk of drop-offs due to friction.
Turn compliance into a competitive advantage.
Beyond compliance, OneID®’s solution allows businesses to leverage digital identity verification for multiple applications:
- Zero-Knowledge Proof: Verifying a user’s age without sharing additional personal details.
- Real-time identity authentication: Ensuring the right person is present for sensitive interactions.
- Progressive onboarding: Using verified data to streamline customer onboarding and checkout processes.
- Financial data verification: Reducing the risk of fraud by using bank-verified data to set up accounts, subscriptions, and direct debits.
By adopting OneID®’s solution, businesses can not only meet the OSA requirements but also differentiate themselves in the marketplace by offering a seamless, privacy-first experience to their users.
