You Must Now Be 18 Years Old To Create a New Flickr Account

Flickr has made some rather dramatic changes to the photo-sharing site in response to new safety standards put in place by the United Kingdom. While some of the new rules only affect citizens of the UK, the website is now acting like an adult website: in order to create an account, new users must be 18 years of age or older.

The updates to Flickr’s terms of service were made on July 24 in anticipation of updated UK regulations, but the SmugMug-owned photo sharing site made global changes in addition to ones affecting specifically the UK.

“The primary update is that Flickr will now require all new users to be 18 years of age or older to create an account. This change helps us align with evolving global online safety standards and ensures a consistent and safe environment for our entire community,” Flickr writes in an email to users. That is a major change and affects everyone.

However, thanks to the passage of the Online Safety Act, Flickr is instituting new rules for content access for those attempting to access the site from the UK.

Firstly, access to content with SafeSearch turned off will be disabled for all except those with a Flickr Pro subscription. Flickr says that it went with this approach because a Pro subscription requires credit card verification, which it is using to serve as age assurance under UK law.

The Office of Communications, or Ofcom, has set aside a number of ways websites can verify the age of users, including credit card checks, photo ID matching, or estimating the age of a user based on a selfie (although that last method has already been shown to easily be fooled by a video game face).

That means for free users of Flickr, SafeSearch will be automatically enabled and cannot be disabled without a Pro subscription. For those traveling and visiting the UK temporarily, Flickr says the experience of using the platform will temporarily align with UK regulations.

“While you are in the UK, SafeSearch may be automatically enabled on your account. Your full account access and settings will be restored automatically once you leave the UK,” Flickr explains. “We appreciate your understanding as we navigate these new requirements to keep our global community safe.”

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