Overhaul algorithms and age checks or face fines, tech firms told

Overhaul algorithms and age checks or face fines, tech firms told Ofcom boss Dame Melanie Dawes said it was a "gamechanger" but critics say the restrictions do not go far enough and were "a bitter pill to swallow". Platforms which host pornography, or offer content which encourages self-harm, suicide or eating disorders are among those which must take more robust action to prevent children accessing their content. Ofcom says its "Children's Codes" - the final versions of which have now been published - will offer "transformational new protections". Websites will have to change the algorithms that recommend content to young people and introduce beefed-up age checks or face big fines, the UK media regulator has confirmed. Ian Russell, chairman of the Molly Rose Foundation, which was set up in memory of his daughter - who took her own life aged 14 - said he was "dismayed by the lack of ambition" in the codes. But Dame Melanie told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that age checks were a ... Read full article.