Reddit has announced that UK users must verify their age to access mature content on the platform.

The move comes as the online forum looks to meet its compliance duties under the UK's Online Safety Act, which aims to protect minors from harmful material online.

According to the new rules, websites must verify user age through methods such as ID photo checks, credit card verification, mobile network age checks and facial age estimation.

From Tuesday, the platform said it had started collecting and verifying the age of UK users before they can view certain mature content.

The verification process is carried out in collaboration with a third-party provider, Persona, and is based on an uploaded selfie or government ID photo.

Persona will keep the photo for no more than seven days, it said.

Reddit said the new procedure will not affect the privacy of community members.

It added that the platform will not have access to the uploaded images and will only retain the verification status and users’ date of birth, which means users do not to need to re-enter information each time they access content that requires age verification.

Ofcom is overseeing the implementation of the new regulations and has warned that non-compliant platforms could face substantial fines of up to £18 million or 10 per cent of global revenue.

At present, many adult websites rely on users simply clicking a button to confirm their age, an approach that UK media regulator Ofcom has deemed inadequate.

Ofcom previously welcomed the regulations, stating that “it would bring online pornography into line with how we treat adult services in the real world”, according to the BBC.

In June, Adult entertainment site Pornhub said it will also implement stricter age verification checks from July, its parent company Aylo has confirmed.

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