The UK ICO has marked the anniversary of its Age Appreciation Design Code (or the Children’s Code) which was fully rolled out in September last year. This code aims to ensure that all online services follow its fifteen headline standards and comply with their obligations under data protection law to protect children’s online data. Since 2021, the Children’s Code has affected social media platforms, video games, video streaming services, and targeted personal ads, and influenced other countries to review their national children’s privacy protection regulations.
In his speech, John Edwards said:
“This code makes clear that children are not like adults online, and their data needs greater protections. We want children to be online, learning, playing, and experiencing the world, but with the right protections in place to do so.
There’s more for us to achieve. We are currently looking into a number of different online services and their conformance with the code as well as ongoing investigations. And we’ll use our enforcement powers where they are required.”
ICO will continue to improve their approach by increasing the amount of research and collaborations with certain organisations to make sure the Children’s Code has a significant impact on others.
For further information related to the Children’s Code, please visit https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/childrens-code-hub/