“Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren’t suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling,” Ofcom stated. “Now, children will be better protected from online material that’s not appropriate for them, while adults’ rights to access legal content are preserved. We expect other companies to follow suit, or face enforcement if they fail to act.”

Ofcom stated online platforms that fall under the law “must use highly effective age assurance to identify which users are children, to protect them from harmful material, while preserving adults’ rights to access legal content. That may involve preventing children from accessing the entire site or app, or only some parts or kinds of content.”

Ofcom Group Director for Online Safety Oliver Griffiths just recently informed the Daily Star that “if you’re a dedicated teenager, you’re probably going to be able to find ways to get [around this] in the same way as people manage to find their way in the pub to buy alcohol at under 18.” He showed that the law must avoid numerous kids from “stumbling across porn,” which “this is very much a first step.”

In the United States, specific states have actually been enforcing age laws on pornography sites. The United States Supreme Court just recently promoted a Texas law that needs age confirmation on pornography websites, discovering that the state’s age-gating law does not breach the First Amendment. A dissent composed by Justice Elena Kagan explained the law’s ID requirement as a deterrent to working out one’s First Amendment rights, stating that “Texas’s law defines speech by content and tells people entitled to view that speech that they must incur a cost to do so.”

While the Texas law uses to sites in which more than one-third of the material is sexual product, the UK law’s age arrangements use more broadly to social networks sites. Reddit’s statement of its UK constraints stated the business anticipates it will need to validate user ages in other nations.

“As laws change, we may need to collect and/or verify age in places other than the UK,” Reddit stated. “Accordingly, we are also introducing globally an option for you to provide your birthdate to optimize your Reddit experience, for example to help ensure that content and ads are age-appropriate. This is optional, and you won’t be required to provide it unless you live in a place (like the UK) where we are required to ask for it.”Reddit stated the choice will be readily available in a user’s account settings, however will not present to all users right away.

Disclosure: Advance Publications, which owns Ars Technica moms and dad Condé Nast, is the biggest investor in Reddit.