UK Online Safety Act
Are we at risk?

Recent news suggest online based platforms such as Sindome and other media which lack sufficient age gates may be subject to vast fines. Is Sindome at risk?

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/mmo/cult-text-based-zombie-mmo-urban-dead-is-shutting-down-after-a-full-19-years-8-months-and-11-days-because-of-new-uk-legislation/

https://urbandead.com/shutdown.html

While I disagree that a basic age gate would be in compliance with OSA 2023, because it requires duty of care (which we can't provide) and risk assessment of content for harm to children (which we won't do) and demonstrative age verification that can be shown to be highly effective at preventing children from accessing content (which we don't have), I do agree Sindome has no compliance issues because it doesn't qualify as UK linked:

No, I'm not a practicing lawyer anywhere and cannot provide legal advice, that is just my general informational opinion as someone with a background in GDPR auditing.

It's been 8 years since I wrote a Law of Torts exam, so you'll have to spare the shibboleths out of pity. Would my tattered copy of Byrne and McCutcheon, papers on Schrem v Facebook and expired WestLaw logins be okay, or do I have to recite 22 ER 931 from memory to pass inspection lol.

I may have missed the implication that you were yourself a UK-based lawyer in which case I wasn't challenging your legal opinion Aida, but if so I'm a bit surprised you say that classic age gating meets requirements when Ofcom itself states it doesn't, and instead specifies highly-effective methods as including: Open banking, photo ID matching, photo age estimation, mobile phone provider checks, credit card checks, and digital wallet checks.

I'd defer to an expert on this topic but on its face that appears to be a pretty serious burden. Maybe we should be blocking UK IPs just to stave off problems.