The legal mechanics behind age verification and children’s privacy | Commercial Awareness Compass #64

Children’s online privacy is colliding with a growing political push for age gating content. Recently, Australia has implemented a restriction on under 16s using social media and in the UK the House of Lords voted against the government in favour of a similar ban which will be discussed in the Commons. Now, platforms are being pressed to prove they can manage children’s access in a regulatory landscape that is narrowing.The UK regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has made children’s privacy a priority and in February fined Imgur’s owner, Media Lab, £247,590 for children’s privacy failings including failing to verify ages.So what does robust age verification actually look like? When does age gating create new privacy risks? And what should a business do first before building a platform? We’ve been joined by Hogan Lovells to help answer this and more.The Commercial Awareness Compass by AllAboutLaw, helps you build your commercial awareness every week with a beginners, intermediate and advanced breakdown of a story from an expert lawyer and trainee solicitor host. This story was taken from a live conversation a few months ago. If you don't want to wait for these conversations, head over to the Commercial Awareness Compass to get them straight to your inbox each week. 🚀 Boost your commercial awareness: https://www.allaboutlaw.co.uk/commercial-awareness-compass