AGOM imposes new age verification rule in Italy

The media and communications watchdog has included gambling within a new measure for adult content.

Italy.- The Italian media and communications watchdog AGCOM has announced the introduction of a new mandatory age verification for adult content, including gambling. The technical measure will require media to check the age of users via the national digital identity system SPID before allowing them to view content or access services related to pornography, gambling and other adult-specific social media categories.

The new measures were proposed within the online safety and protection bill known as the Caivano Decree. AGCOM says the measure will ensure tighter age verification mechanisms to protect minors from content that could harm their physical, mental or moral development.

A double anonymity model will be used to ensure privacy. Media will not hold any data from the process and won’t be able to track age verification across their networks. The measure still needs to be reviewed by the European Commission (EC) to check it complies with EU data and privacy rules. Once approved, AGCOM will conduct a pilot with industry groups and consumer bodies to test the controls.

Italian online gambling reforms

The new measures come as the EC also reviews Italy’s proposed online gambling reforms, which include a new regulatory framework for licences. A three-month standstill period ends this Friday (October 18). If there are no major objections in the feedback given, the Italian government plans for the national regulator, the ADM, to open a window for online gambling licence applications in late December 2024 or early January 2025.

The proposals as they stand include a steep hike in the fee for online gambling licences from €200,000 in 2018 to €7m. The Ministry of Finance has justified the increase by saying that the market has significantly changed and is now dominated by major multinational operators. Licences will last nine years, and operators will also pay 3 per cent of annual gross gaming revenue (GGR).