Age Assurance Policy

1. Why we check your age

ChatNow has a minimum age of 18, and our Community Rules allow sexual content between consenting adults in the rooms set aside for it. Under section 12 of the Online Safety Act 2023 and Ofcom's Protection of Children Codes of Practice, a user-to-user service whose terms do not prohibit pornographic content must use age verification or age estimation that is highly effective at determining whether a user is a child, so that children cannot encounter that content; the duty has applied since 25 July 2025. We gate the whole service rather than individual rooms, because live webcam and private messages cannot be classified before they are seen. This is also what allows our children's access assessment under section 36 to conclude that children are not normally able to access ChatNow (see Online Safety at ChatNow). Ofcom's guidance is at ofcom.org.uk.

2. Who is checked, and when

Everyone. Guests and registered members alike complete the age check before they can enter any room — including the English-speakers room and rooms with no adult theme — send or receive a private message, view or upload an image, or open a webcam. There is no browsing before the check: no room list with live content, no previews, no blurred images, no gallery. Creating an account or signing in with Google does not replace the check. The result is held for the current session only and the check is repeated at the start of each new session, so a shared device never carries an adult's result over to someone else.

3. The provider and the methods

The check is operated by AgeVerif (www.ageverif.com), an independent age-assurance provider engaged under a written contract. AgeVerif is an independent controller of the data it collects for the check, which it processes under its own privacy notice. At the age gate you are handed to AgeVerif, choose a method, complete it, and return to ChatNow with a pass or a fail.

Each method is one Ofcom lists as capable of being highly effective. AgeVerif's own privacy notice governs what it does with the data you show it during the check.

4. How the check meets Ofcom's criteria

Ofcom requires age assurance to be technically accurate (it determines age correctly under test conditions), robust (it keeps doing so in real-world use and resists circumvention), reliable (its results are reproducible and derive from trustworthy evidence) and fair (it minimises bias and discriminatory outcomes). Our set-up meets them as follows: the challenge age of 25 keeps the false-pass rate for children within what Ofcom's guidance expects; document and wallet methods rely on issued credentials bound to the presenting person; the check applies to every session and every access mode, so there is no unchecked path to content; VPN and proxy detection and one-session-per-account enforcement resist circumvention; and four methods together mean that no group — people without a passport or driving licence, people the camera under-estimates, people without a credit card — is locked out by a single technique. We monitor pass and challenge rates and act on any evidence that the check is less effective than expected.

5. Privacy by design

• Double anonymity. AgeVerif does not learn which site you are visiting, and ChatNow does not learn who you are; neither party holds both halves.
• Yes or no only. ChatNow receives a single result: over 18 or not. No estimate, date of birth, document, photo or card number is ever transmitted to or stored by ChatNow.
• Nothing kept beyond the session. The result lives in a session token that expires when you leave, and the check is redone next time. We keep no log of which method you used.
• Lawful basis. We process the yes/no result under our legal obligation in the Online Safety Act 2023 (Article 6(1)(c) UK GDPR). Where a method involves biometric or identity data, AgeVerif processes it under its own privacy notice; requests about that data go to AgeVerif.
• ICO principles. The set-up follows the Information Commissioner's Opinion on age assurance and the Ofcom/ICO joint statement of March 2026: necessity and proportionality, data minimisation, storage limitation, a prominent challenge route and a written contract with the provider. A data protection impact assessment has been completed and is kept under review.
• No secondary use. The result is never used for advertising, profiling or anything other than access control. Details are in the Privacy Policy.

6. Accessibility and choice

You always see all four methods and choose freely. Facial estimation needs a camera; if you do not have one or prefer not to use it, the credit-card and wallet methods involve no camera and no document. The AgeVerif interface works with screen readers and keyboard navigation on desktop and mobile. If none of the methods works for you because of a disability, write to contact@chatnow.fr and we will find a way to complete the check with you; see also our Accessibility Statement.

7. What is not accepted

The following are not age assurance and are never treated as such on ChatNow, because Ofcom's guidance and the Ofcom/ICO joint statement rule them out: declaring your own age or date of birth; ticking an "I am over 18" box; a warning or disclaimer that the service is for adults; a contractual term saying users must be 18; and payment methods that do not require the holder to be an adult, such as debit cards. The age you enter as a guest and the date of birth on a member account are used for your profile and our records; they never unlock anything.

8. Circumventing the check

9. Challenging a wrong outcome

Facial estimation is deliberately cautious, so some adults under about 30 are asked to use another method; that is the buffer working, not a finding that you are a child. If you believe a check wrongly treated you as under 18, press "Challenge this result" on the age-check screen or email safety@chatnow.fr. This is complaint type 4 on the Complaints & Appeals page: a member of staff reviews the challenge within 14 days and offers an alternative method free of charge. Because no image, document or estimate is retained, the review is a fresh check by another method, not a re-examination of the first. A pass gives you access immediately.

10. Parents and carers

The age check is why an under-18 cannot reach a room, a private message or a webcam on ChatNow. We also recommend the parental controls offered by your broadband provider, mobile network and device operating system, all of which can block chat-now.uk outright. If you believe a person under 18 has used or is using ChatNow — for example with an adult's document or card — tell us at safety@chatnow.fr with the username and, if you know them, the room and the time. A member of staff on call around the clock handles the report: the account is closed, its data erased, any adult who lent their credentials is banned, and any sexual content involving the child is dealt with under the Child Safety & Safeguarding policy.

11. Records and review

We keep a dated written record of the methods in use, why each is highly effective against Ofcom's four criteria, how circumvention is prevented, the data protection impact assessment and our contract with AgeVerif, in the form Ofcom expects to examine. The record and this policy are reviewed at least once a year, before any significant change to the service, and whenever Ofcom updates its guidance or we see evidence that the check is performing below expectation; the children's access assessment that relies on this policy is repeated on the same cycle. The "Last reviewed" date above shows the most recent review.