The Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa), an industry body that represents most of South Africa’s ISPs, has called for a debate on the “growing global issue of age verification on the internet”.

“From the days when freedom-of-expression arguments ruled virtually unopposed, there is now general consensus among responsible people and organisations that there should be some type of external mechanism to ensure young people are not exposed to age-inappropriate material,” Ispa regulatory adviser Dominic Cull said in a statement on Monday.

There are several countries that are introducing age verification for adult-orientated websites. “A number of states in the US have already enacted age-verification obligations, while there are initiatives under way in Canada, Australia, the UK, the EU and elsewhere,” Ispa said.

“With many online threats being faced by minors and vulnerable persons — including sexual predators, terrorist actors and illegal online marketplaces — this topic is wider than most of us realise. Engagement, therefore, is necessary to define these threats properly before combating them.”

Said Cull: “On the surface, this looks like a simple issue, but it is both legally and technically complex. The principal argument in favour is the need to wind back the clock and protect children and other vulnerable groups from adult content online and adult experiences on social media platforms. Opponents, however, regard age-verification systems as surveillance systems that threaten privacy and personal security rights and which are ineffective, easy to abuse and simple to circumvent.

Balance

“A balance needs to be found within the South African framework of constitutional rights and laws such as the Protection of Personal Information Act. The existing South African legal and legislative environment governing online harms is not fit for this purpose. The issue furthermore cannot be addressed by the country’s ISPs alone who are, in fact, not content providers but ‘mere conduits’ in law,” Cull said.

He said that although the South African Law Reform Commission has undertaken an “initial deep dive into children and access to pornography online, the Film and Publication Board remains the default age-appropriate content custodian”.

Read: Fibre operators make switching ISPs difficult: Ispa

“It’s common cause that access to internet content needs to be restricted based on the user’s age. Ispa looks forward to engaging with other responsible internet industry stakeholders on how to address this,” said Cull. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media

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