Bluesky to Verify Ages of UK Social Media Users
Bluesky will verify ages to comply with the U.K. Online Safety Act, the social media platform said on its blog Thursday. The platform said it will deny access to adult content and disable direct messaging for users younger than 18 and those who don’t want to verify their age.
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The Online Safety Act, passed in 2023, “requires that online platforms take specific steps to reduce the risk of children seeing harmful content,” said Bluesky. “Since certain parts of that act come into effect later this month, we’re making some changes for people in the UK.”
Bluesky will adopt Epic Games’ Kids Web Services to give users options for verifying their age, including facial recognition, payment card verification and scanning IDs, it said. The company didn't comment Thursday on whether it would adopt age verification anywhere in the U.S. in response to requirements in a growing number of states.