Everything You Need to Know About Italy’s New AGCOM Age Verification Regulation

Recently, the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni/AGCOM) published new age-verification regulations for adult content. With particular focus on restricting minors’ access to adult content, AGCOM’s new regulation requires adult websites to verify the age of their users before accessing content. 

Therefore, from the 12th of November, 2025, entities mentioned in the initial list of websites that distribute adult content in Italy are to verify that their users are of legal age, regardless of their country of establishment.

If your business operates a website that distributes adult content in Italy, this newly introduced regulation directly affects how you manage user access. To fully understand the obligations this new regulation imposes on adult content website managers and video sharing platforms, this blog provides an in-depth analysis of the regulation.

Here is everything you need to know about Italy’s AGCOM new age verification Regulation for adult content

What is the AGCOM Age Verification Regulation?

In light of the physical and mental harm minors may suffer from exposure to adult content, the regulation, adopted through AGCOM Resolution No. 96/25/CONS, implements  Article 13-bis of the “Decreto Caivano” (Decree 123/2023). The  Regulation imposes an outright ban on the distribution of pornographic content for minors. 

In order to verify that their users are over 18 years of age (which is the legal age in Italy), the age verification process must meet certain technical requirements:

• Mandatory Age Verification: All platforms that distribute adult content in Italy must verify that individuals are of legal age (18 years or older) before access to explicit material is granted.

• Protection of Privacy: The regulation introduced a double-blind age verification test to uphold strict data protection policies. Essentially, the independent age verification system must not know the platform for which it is verifying the identity. After age verification, the adult content platform shall only receive the verified age of the user, excluding the personal data that the independent age verification system utilizes.

In this manner, the user’s privacy is ensured throughout.

• Independent Age Verification Providers: AGCOM requires that age verification services remain independent of the adult content website manager, so that the entire identification process functions independently.

• App-based Verification: Users may also verify age through pre-installed digital identity apps, including digital wallets and digital identification documents. Through such applications, users can submit their pre-verified age directly to the adult content platform, thereby meeting AGCOM’s double-blind data privacy requirement.
• Deadline: the listed adult content websites must integrate age verification systems by November 12, 2025. Failure to comply will result in strict consequences, including the possibility of having the platform blocked until compliance is achieved.

What does Age Verification Look Like for Users in Italy?

The customer journey in the age verification process is just as important as the technology behind it. What is the practical effect of Italy’s age verification rules?

Here’s what a user journey would look like:

1. Age Verification Prompt:

When the user accesses an adult content platform, the adult content shall be locked behind an age verification prompt.

2. Submission of documents for Age Verification: 

If the user has a digital identity credential application, they can directly submit their age verification to the application, which will satisfy AGCOM’s requirements under the new regulation. In this scenario, the pre-verified identity is on the third-party digital identity app.

However, if the user does not have a digital identity application, the adult content platform can rely on an independent age verification provider that requests a government-issued ID or a selfie for biometric matching. 

In this way, the platform cannot access the underlying identity data on which age on the basis of which age is being verified by the independent age verification provider. 

3. Verification of Age through a trusted third-party:

The submitted information is securely verified by a third-party service through established IDV techniques such as facial recognition and document authentication. The third-party service does not know which site is requesting age verification; it only knows that an age verification request has been made. 

4. Confirmation of Age:

After the verification process is complete, the adult content platform receives a simple confirmation from the trusted third-party service (such as “user is 18+), without disclosing any additional personal information about the user.

5. Access Granted:

Once the user’s age is verified and meets the Regulation’s threshold, the user is granted access to the platform’s content. 

How Can Shufti Help Your Platform Stay Compliant?

Italy’s AGCOM age verification regime creates new obligations for adult content platforms that need to confirm users’ ages while protecting privacy. Shufti’s age verification solution combines document checks, biometric matching, and electronic identity verification to help platforms adopt independent, privacy-centric age checks that comply with AGCOM’s double-anonymity model.

Adult content platforms can configure Shufti to return age-based outcomes, such as “18+ verified”, rather than full identity profiles. This approach helps reduce the amount of personal data shared with content providers, while still providing robust evidence of compliance.

Businesses that distribute adult content in or to Italy and are reassessing their access controls can explore how Shufti’s age verification and broader IDV stack support regulatory compliance and safer user journeys. 

Reach out to Shufti today to learn how we can seamlessly integrate age verification into an adult content platform. Book a demo today!