Publications
Australia’s social media ban is working, but give it time.
The UK Government is considering it, and their Conservative Party has already announced that it intends to follow Australia’s lead by setting a minimum age of 16 for social media. Critics of the policy claim that it is not working in Australia, but the evidence does...
USA: A Look at Key Kids Online Safety Federal Bills
In the United States, a wave of federal bills is attempting to redefine how children, teens, and their parents interact with the digital world. Each proposal takes a different approach to online safety, privacy, and platform responsibility. What varies even more...
No, UK porn use was not halved by age verification.
Headlines (BBC, FT, Sky), based on data from Similarweb, have claimed that the use of leading porn sites has been cut by up to 47% in the UK, since the introduction of a comprehensive requirement for "highly effective age assurance". We believe that these stats are...
Lessons learned from UK “AV Day”
The Age Verification Providers Association has produced a report, based on discussions with our members, about the key lessons learned from the wide-scale implementation of "highly effective age assurance" in the UK on July 25th. The scale of the launch was a major...
AVPA Response to Center for Democracy & Technology’s user research
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) has published a brief which offers a useful snapshot of how a small group of US teens and parents feel about common age-verification methods. The sample is modest and qualitative by design, so it surfaces concerns rather...
PRESS RELEASE: AVPA welcomes Australia’s Age Assurance Technology Trial final report
London, 31 August 2025 - The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA), the global trade association for suppliers of age assurance technology, welcomes the publication of the Australian Government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial final report, conducted by the...
The Online Safety Act: A First Amendment for the UK
The UK's Online Safety Act ("OSA") 2023 has faced criticism from some quarters, with detractors labeling it an instrument of censorship that stifles online expression. This narrative completely misrepresents the Act's purpose and effect. Far from censoring legal...
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions for consumers
VPNs are not Kryptonite to age assurance.
VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) route a user’s internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a server in another location. They protect privacy, secure public Wi-Fi connections and, for many businesses, are essential to remote working. They also allow a user to...
Age Verification providers welcome US Supreme Court decision
The Age Verification Providers Association, the global trade association for suppliers of age assurance technology, welcomed the judgement of the US Supreme Court permitting age verification as a constitutional means of protecting children from exposure to adult...
PRESS RELEASE: AV providers congratulate Ofcom on doing what no other regulator has achieved…
London, 26 June 2025 – The Age Verification Providers Association, the global trade association for suppliers of age assurance technology, congratulates Ofcom on winning the confidence of major names in the adult industry who have publicly committed to complying with...