Captured source text (L5)
**What are online services required to do, and by when?**
The Online Safety Act divides online services into different categories with distinct routes to implement age checks. However, the action we expect all of them to take starts from today:
- **Requirement to carry out a children’s access assessment.** All user-to-user and search services – defined as ‘Part 3’ services\[4\] – in scope of the Act, must carry out a children’s access assessment to establish if their service – or part of their service - is likely to be accessed by children. **From today**, these services have three months to complete their children’s access assessments, in line with our guidance, with a final deadline of **16 April**. Unless they are already using highly effective age assurance and can evidence this, we anticipate that most of these services will need to conclude that they are likely to be accessed by children within the meaning of the Act. Services that fall into this category must comply with the children’s risk assessment duties and the children’s safety duties.\[5\]
- **Measures to protect children on social media and other user-to-user services.** We will publish our Protection of Children Codes and children’s risk assessment guidance in April 2025. This means that services that are likely to be accessed by children will need to conduct a children’s risk assessment **by July 2025** – that is, within three months. Following this, they will need to implement measures to protect children on their services, in line with our Protection of Children Codes to address the risks of harm identified. These measures may include introducing age checks to determine which of their users are under-18 and protect them from harmful content.
- **Services that allow pornography must introduce processes to check the age of users:** all services which allow pornography must have highly effective age assurance processes in place **by July 2025 at the latest** to protect children from encountering it. The Act imposes different deadlines on different types of providers. Services that publish their own pornographic content (defined as ‘Part 5 Services\[6\]) including certain Generative AI tools, must begin **taking steps immediately** to introduce robust age checks, in line with our published guidance. Services that allow user-generated pornographic content – which fall under ‘Part 3’ services – must have fully implemented age checks by July.
Full captured verbatim text
The Online Safety Act divides online services into different categories with distinct routes to implement age checks. However, the action we expect all of them to take starts from today: - **Requirement to carry out a children’s access assessment.** All user-to-user and search services – defined as ‘Part 3’ services\[4\] – in scope of the Act, must carry out a children’s access assessment to establish if their service – or part of their service - is likely to be accessed by children. **From today**, these services have three months to complete their children’s access assessments, in line with our guidance, with a final deadline of **16 April**. Unless they are already using highly effective age assurance and can evidence this, we anticipate that most of these services will need to conclude that they are likely to be accessed by children within the meaning of the Act. Services that fall into this category must comply with the children’s risk assessment duties and the children’s safety duties.\[5\] - **Measures to protect children on social media and other user-to-user services.** We will publish our Protection of Children Codes and children’s risk assessment guidance in April 2025. This means that services that are likely to be accessed by children will need to conduct a children’s risk assessment **by July 2025** – that is, within three months. Following this, they will need to implement measures to protect children on their services, in line with our Protection of Children Codes to address the risks of harm identified. These measures may include introducing age checks to determine which of their users are under-18 and protect them from harmful content. - **Services that allow pornography must introduce processes to check the age of users:** all services which allow pornography must have highly effective age assurance processes in place **by July 2025 at the latest** to protect children from encountering it. The Act imposes different deadlines on different types of providers. Services that publish their own pornographic content (defined as ‘Part 5 Services\[6\]) including certain Generative AI tools, must begin **taking steps immediately** to introduce robust age checks, in line with our published guidance. Services that allow user-generated pornographic content – which fall under ‘Part 3’ services – must have fully implemented age checks by July.