Latest news with #ProtectionofChildrenCodes
Business Wire
23-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Entrust and PlaySafe ID Partner to Bring Verified, Privacy-First Digital Identity to Gaming
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Entrust, a global leader in identity-centric security solutions, today announced a partnership with PlaySafe ID, the platform that keeps cheaters, bots, and predators out of games. The partnership will power PlaySafe ID's secure onboarding and verification process using Entrust Identity Verification to enable seamless and secure onboarding experience for gamers worldwide. The partnership will power PlaySafe ID's secure onboarding and verification process using Entrust Identity Verification to enable seamless and secure onboarding experience for gamers worldwide. Share Built with a privacy-first mindset, PlaySafe ID issues a verified, game-agnostic digital ID that confirms the human identity behind the account promoting accountability and improved protection for users, while still allowing them to remain anonymized. The platform aims to address wider issues that erode trust and enjoyment in online gaming communities, such as cheating, hacking, bot activity, and inappropriate behavior, while ensuring compliance with evolving regulations such as the UK's Online Safety Act. How It Works Users create a PlaySafe ID account and complete a quick and secure identity verification process powered by Entrust. Users simply take a photo of their government-issued ID and a short video selfie. Entrust identity verification first checks that the ID is genuine and not fraudulent and then matches it to the user's face in the selfie video. This ensures the person presenting the identity is its legitimate owner and is physically present, mitigating identity fraud attempts such as stolen ID or deepfakes. Once verified, users receive a unique, random, and anonymized PlaySafe ID, granting access to PlaySafe-protected gaming and matchmaking with other verified gamers. The verification data is kept separate from the PlaySafe ID, ensuring gamers remain anonymized during gameplay while knowing they are engaging with other legitimate, verified players. 'Gaming should be fun, fair, and safe for everyone,' said Andrew Wailes, CEO of PlaySafe ID. 'Our partnership with Entrust ensures that our user verification process is both secure and scalable, and also aligns with the values of frictionless user experience and privacy. Their technology will be instrumental in helping us build a future where fair play is the standard, and cheating, fraud and harmful behavior are no longer tolerated.' Regulation in Gaming This partnership will enable game providers and developers to prepare for the inbound Protection of Children Codes, coming into force in July 2025 as part of the Online Safety Act, which mandates that services accessed by children must manage risks and protect children from encountering harmful content. 'We're proud to join PlaySafe ID in their mission to make online gaming a safer place,' said Samuel Steg, Head of Compliance for Identity Verification at Entrust. 'Fraudulent activity online continues to grow both in scope and sophistication, and gaming environments are no exception. Our identity verification technology provides robust, high-assurance Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, offering gamers a seamless and secure onboarding experience. This partnership reflects our shared commitment to building a safer digital future and promoting trust, fairness, and safety within digital spaces.' PlaySafe ID is currently in integration discussions with several major gaming platforms, with the first partnerships expected to launch later this year. For more information, visit or About Entrust: Entrust is an innovative leader in identity-centric security solutions, providing an integrated platform of scalable, AI-enabled security offerings. We enable organisations to safeguard their operations, evolve without compromise, and protect their interactions in an interconnected world – so they can transform their businesses with confidence. Entrust supports customers in 150+ countries and works with a global partner network. We are trusted by the world's most trusted organisations. Learn more at About PlaySafe ID PlaySafe ID stops cheating, botting, and child abuse in games. The company enables players to enjoy gaming at its fairest by issuing anonymised 'PlaySafe IDs' to users who verify themselves. With a single ID issued to each user, penalties can now be issued to users who are caught cheating or being inappropriate to children across all PlaySafe Protected games. The company was founded in response to the cheating and bots prolific in online games, and the growing need to keep children safe from predators and bad-actors.
ITV News
24-04-2025
- ITV News
Ofcom announces 'game changing' new rules to keep children safe online
Ofcom has announced what it calls 'game-changing' new rules designed to keep children safe online. The communications regulator, which now also oversees online safety, published more than 40 measures which make up the Protection of Children Codes and Guidance on Thursday. Tech firms must follow them under the Online Safety Act, and any platform likely to be accessed by children in the UK will need to abide by them - or they could face fines which could run into millions of pounds. The measures include requiring online platforms to have robust age checks to stop children from accessing harmful content, to ensure that algorithms that recommend content do not operate in a way that harms children, and to implement more effective moderation systems so that quick action is taken on harmful content. Ofcom says its priority is to protect children so they can enjoy the benefits of being online, without experiencing the potentially serious harms that exist in the online world. On Thursday, the regulator's chief executive called the changes a "reset" for children online. Dame Melanie Dawes, continued: "They will mean safer social media feeds with less harmful and dangerous content, protections from being contacted by strangers and effective age checks on adult content. "Ofcom has been tasked with bringing about a safer generation of children online, and if companies fail to act they will face enforcement.' Whether they intend to or not, children are currently able to sometimes access harmful content, including violence, hate, pornography and misogyny, and algorithms can also lead youngsters towards content promoting suicide, eating disorders and self-harm. They can also be exposed to cyberbullying, sextortion and dangerous online by Ofcom last year found that children aged eight to 17 spend between two and five hours online per day, and that amount of time increases with age. Nearly every child over 12 has a mobile phone, and almost all of them watch videos on platforms such as YouTube or TikTok. Children aged five to seven are increasingly present online, with a third found to use social media is concern, however, that the new Protection of Children Codes dont go far enough. Daisy Greenwell, who co-founded the grassroots movement, Smartphone Free Childhood, told ITV News: "This is a positive step forward in building a digital world that doesn't expose children to the sorts of harm we'd never allow in the real world. "But while this new Code is welcome, it also highlights how slowly the wheels of regulation turn compared to the pace of technological change…. In real life, no product, toy or device used by kids hits the market without extensive testing and proof of safety. "And yet our children are spending an average of 35 hours a week on devices and platforms that have gone through no safety testing, and where overwhelming evidence points to serious harm. "We need to build on the momentum of the Children's Code and demand bolder, faster and more radical action so that every child can grow up free from addictive design, toxic content and exploitative algorithms.' Platforms have three months from Thursday to complete children's risk assessments, and by July 25 2025, they must start implementing appropriate safety measures to protect children. Tech safety expert Lina Ghazal, who used to work at Meta and Ofcom and is now Head of Regulatory and Public Affairs at online safety provider Verifymy, said: 'With the regulator pledging to start enforcement in July, the era of tick-box access for content sites is over, while platforms that allow young users, but have 18+ features, will have to prove these are effectively walled off. 'Robust age checks will play a leading role in ensuring the success of the codes, and with greater scrutiny on content and the role of algorithm 'recommendations', providers must also not shirk on their moderation policies. Innovative AI-powered tools, designed to work in tandem with human judgment, can now sound the alarm on harmful content before it is even published. 'In 2025, the industry's top priority should be creating safer, more supportive online environments for children. The regulatory framework and the technology to back it up already exist, so platforms have no excuse not to take immediate action.' Some commentators, like American social psychologist and author of the bestseller 'The Anxious Generation,' Jonathan Haidt, have drawn a line directly between an increased use of social media and smartphones and a rapid decline in the mental health of young people. In the UK, the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology has commissioned a study, led by the University of Cambridge, to determineevidence exists to establish such a direct link. Companies that run social media platforms all currently have various measures in place. Meta introduced Teen accounts on Instagram last September and earlier this year expanded them to Facebook and Messenger. There have been pledges from X and TikTok to comply with UK law, and Snapchat says it is supportive of the Online Safety Act. YouTube says it invests heavily in the technology and teams that help to provide children and families with the best protection possible.
