Microsoft has shared details about how the UK Online Safety Act will impact Xbox’s social features, which will now require age verification.
Yesterday, Xbox’s vice president of gaming trust and safety Kim Kunes announced that the compliance program has started. As such, any UK-based player who indicates their account age as 18 and over will begin seeing notifications encouraging them to verify their age.
Age verification will be required to retain full access to social features on Xbox, including voice and text chat, as well as game invites. That being said, the restrictions won’t take effect until early 2026, so people won’t be mandated to go through the verification until then.
“This one-time process for players in the UK ensures we can continue to provide all players on our platform with age-appropriate experiences,” Kunes wrote.
As for methods for online verification, these include proof of government-issued ID, age estimation, or either a mobile provider or credit card check. “The information players provide during the age verification process is protected with industry-standard encryption and is not stored or used for any other purpose,” the statement reads.
In addition, Kunes said that Microsoft expects to “roll out age verification processes to more regions in the future,” clarifying that there is “no one-size-fits-all solution to player safety,” so these methods may look different across regions and experiences. “We’ll work with local communities, publishing partners and regulators to determine the right approach that both respects player privacy and doesn’t take away from the Xbox gameplay experience.”
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Eligible players who don’t verify their age will only be able to use social features on Xbox with friends only until they do so. According to the announcement, the verification process won’t impact any existing purchases, entitlements, gameplay history, achievements, or the ability to play and purchase games.
The UK Online Safety Act continues to permeate social media sites
Back in June, Ofcom, the media regulator for the UK Online Safety Act, announced that “all sites and apps that allow pornography” will need to have “strong age checks in place.” The ruling came into effect last week, on July 25.
As reported by the BBC, the act has affected not just pornography sites like Pornhub, but also dating apps and social media sites, including X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, Telegram, Discord, and Bluesky, with each of them offering different verification options.
Cyber security expect Chelsea Jarvie told the BBC the methods are effective at proving someone’s age and include controls to prevent circumvention. That being said, “determined users will try to find ways around them,” and more people may start turning to more anonymous methods to access online content.
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Less than 24 hours after the new UK Online Safety Act came into effect, users were reportedly able to bypass the verification system of Discord by using the face of Sam Porter Bridges in Death Stranding 2 in Photo Mode. (Thanks, PCGamer).
The age verification system that Discord uses, called K-id, is able to verify users by Face Scan or Scan ID. According to Discord’s guidelines, age verification is mandated to unblur or change settings for the Discord Sensitive Media filter, when changing Message Request settings, and when trying to access age-restricted (+18) channels. That being said, K-id claims it doesn’t permanently store any video selfies or personal identity documents.