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SafetyTech company Privately SA has completed more than one million privacy-preserving age checks across Summer 2025, as demand surges from platforms seeking to comply with the UK’s new Online Safety Act.
A vast majority of the one million+ were conducted online and, in the UK, with the recent Online Safety Act requiring all services and platforms offering adult content to implement robust age verification or face severe penalties.
Privately’s privacy-first solution – in partnership with k-ID’s child safety and compliance platform – is deployed by platforms including Discord. The AI-powered facial age estimation requires no ID uploads, no additional apps, and do not store any biometric data.
“Every single age check we conduct is done locally on-device, which assures customers and users that their data is kept private,” said Deepak Tewari, CEO of Privately SA. “This privacy-first approach is why platforms like Discord trust us. With the Online Safety Act nowin full force it is vital to build that trust as well as ensure children have age appropriate experiences online.”
Across July and August 2025 approximately 25% of age checks conducted by Privately were spoof attempts. These included users rejected for being underage, using a photo to try and trick the system and not showing a live face.
The UK Online Safety Act is one of the world’s most far-reaching online safety laws and is seen as a model for other countries. It has been criticised for potentially undermining privacy, but Privately’s age verification only takes place on-device, with no data stored or managed.
k-ID enables age-appropriate digital experiences by making it easy for any online service to recognise and respond to audience age. The partnership with Privately SA began in 2024 and the joint solution is used by social media companies, gaming platforms and a variety of other online service providers.
“We partnered with Privately SA because their solution was privacy-first from the start,” said Kieran O’Leary, CEO of K-ID. “On-device processing and zero data retention make it both effective and trustworthy, and an ideal match for helping Discord and other platforms meet the new UK regulatory standard and helping to protect user privacy.”
“With one in four age checks stopping spoof attempts, the need for privacy-first, robust age assurance is clear,” continued Tewari. “Other solutions work by redirecting users to third-party apps or requesting ID uploads, which carry obvious privacy risks. As other countries look to the UK’s model, the need to balance privacy with managing what children can access online grows ever more important. This is the future of internet use and platforms will need to comply sooner rather than later.”
