Business & Technology
BSI urges existing age standard for social media ban
BSI has urged the Government and Ofcom to use an existing international age assurance standard for any social media ban on under-16s, arguing that it could enforce restrictions without expanding personal data collection.
The intervention follows the Prime Minister’s announcement of a proposed ban for children under 16, alongside possible limits on features such as infinite scrolling and curfews. Ministers have not yet explained how the measures would work in practice, and Ofcom is expected to outline options for age checks.
BSI said officials should draw on BS ISO/IEC 27566-1, an international framework for age assurance systems published earlier this year. It argues that the standard provides a practical structure for making age-related eligibility decisions without requiring full identity verification in every case.
The issue has become politically sensitive because critics of tighter online restrictions have questioned both whether they can be enforced and whether they would require people to hand over excessive personal information. BSI argues that an existing standard addresses those concerns and could be adopted more quickly than designing a new model from scratch.
Privacy concerns
The framework is intended to reduce the amount of data shared when users prove their age. In practice, that means people would not automatically need to upload passports or disclose their full identity simply to show they are old enough to access a service.
The standard sets out the characteristics of age assurance systems, covering privacy, security, effectiveness and user acceptability. Rather than prescribing a single technology, it defines what a robust system should look like while allowing for different methods.
BSI also pointed to a broader commercial argument. Because the standard is international, companies operating across multiple markets could adopt a more harmonised approach to age verification instead of adapting to different national systems.
That matters for social media platforms and technology providers facing growing pressure from regulators in several countries to protect children online while avoiding unnecessary collection of sensitive data. A common framework could also help policymakers set rules focused on outcomes rather than mandating a single form of identity checking.
BSI backed its call with research on young people’s online behaviour, saying its 2025 findings showed that 42% of young Britons had lied to adults about what they did online, while 27% had pretended to be a different person online.
Separate research cited by the organisation found that 47% of UK adolescents wished they were growing up in a world without the internet, while 50% said a social media curfew would improve their lives. It also found that two-thirds spent more than two hours a day on social media and 40% had set up fake or decoy accounts.
Those figures are likely to strengthen the case for intervention, but they also highlight the difficulty of designing restrictions that are both workable and proportionate. Age checks that are too weak may be easy to bypass, while systems that are too intrusive could deter users and create new privacy risks.
Laura Bishop, Digital Sector Lead, Artificial Intelligence & Cyber Security, BSI, said: “Safeguarding the online well-being of adolescents and children is paramount, given the clear evidence of worrying behaviours. The Government is right to take steps on this. If a complete ban is to be a success, it needs to be implemented in a straightforward way, without introducing new risks to privacy and data collection. Age restrictions on any product or service can be difficult to enforce. The international framework BS ISO/IEC 27566-1 can act as a starting point on this journey towards a safe online world by providing a practical framework that establishes clear characteristics for trustworthy systems. Given the ambition to move at pace on this, we hope the Government and Ofcom will make use of this existing approach rather than start from scratch.”
Wider safety
Bishop also linked the social media debate to the wider question of how children interact with digital products. In BSI’s view, online protection should not be treated solely as a matter of access controls, but also of product design.
It cited separate research into AI-enabled toys and learning devices, where uptake among families appears to be rising despite concerns over data use and exposure to inappropriate material. According to the survey, half of children had already had one of these devices bought for them, and 38% owned two or more.
The same poll found that 75% of parents were worried about internet-connected AI toys exposing children to unwanted content or data risks. More than eight in ten said manufacturers should comply with established standards or codes of conduct, while 72% wanted clearer information about whether products met safety or security requirements.
BSI said this points to the need for a “safety by design” approach across digital services and connected devices. The Government’s proposed product safety framework has already identified harm linked to AI and automated decision-making as an area needing attention, including in toys.
“More broadly, given that children will eventually age out of the ban into a world where they are still expected to be digital natives, we need to consider how we equip them for the complexities of the digital world. This includes ensuring all platforms are designed so that they are human-centric and safe by design and default,” Bishop said.
SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO
News Editor
HiBob has launched a Slack integration for its Bob HR platform, using the Model Context Protocol to bring workforce data into Slackbot.
The integration lets employees, managers and HR teams query Bob from within Slack using natural language and carry out some HR-related actions without leaving the messaging platform. Users can ask about compensation, performance reviews, team joins and upcoming compensation reviews through Slackbot.
The move reflects a wider push by software suppliers to place business data inside conversational interfaces as companies experiment with AI agents in day-to-day work. HiBob is positioning workforce information as a missing layer in those systems, arguing that organisational structure, reporting lines, tenure and team changes shape business decisions in ways general business data alone does not capture.
Slack is central to that argument because many companies already use it as a front end for internal communications. By connecting Bob to Slack through the Model Context Protocol, HiBob aims to make employee records and HR processes available where managers and staff already work and ask questions.
Examples include checking an employee’s compa-ratio, retrieving a performance review and counting how many people joined a team in a quarter. The integration can also identify who is due for a compensation review in the following month.
Workforce context
The launch comes as software groups and corporate buyers focus on whether AI systems can do more than retrieve information from separate applications. A growing part of that debate concerns context: whether an AI tool can understand enough about an organisation and its people to support decisions, recommendations and workflows in a useful way.
HiBob argues that workforce intelligence should sit alongside financial, sales and operational information when those systems are asked to assist with work. In practice, that means linking HR data to conversational tools used by employees and managers rather than restricting it to a standalone HR system.
“The next generation of enterprise software won’t be built around applications. It will be built around AI agents,” said Ronni Zehavi, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of HiBob.
He set out the company’s view of the role employee data should play in those systems.
“Those agents can only make effective decisions if they understand the people behind the work. Workforce intelligence is a critical layer of business context, and until now it has largely been missing from AI-powered workflows. By bringing Bob into Slack, we’re helping organisations ensure that people insights are part of every decision. Modern companies don’t need more disconnected systems. They need better context delivered where decisions are made,” Zehavi said.
Broader shift
The integration also highlights the growing use of the Model Context Protocol to connect AI assistants with business software. The protocol has gained traction as companies look for more standard ways to let AI tools access data and trigger actions across applications without building separate integrations for each workflow.
For HR software providers, that creates an opportunity to move beyond back-office administration and into more regular employee interactions. Managers checking team changes, compensation timing or review history from within Slack is a different pattern of use from logging into a dedicated HR platform for occasional administrative tasks.
That could make workforce data more visible across organisations, though it also raises familiar questions about permissions, accuracy and the limits of what should be surfaced through chat interfaces. HiBob said the information available through Slackbot comes from Bob, which it described as a source of trusted people data.
Bob is HiBob’s platform for human capital management, payroll and finance. More than 5,400 organisations use the software worldwide, including eToro, Fred Perry, Huel, team.blue, SmartRecruiters and Save the Children.
The release places HiBob within a broader group of software suppliers trying to connect structured business systems to AI tools that employees can use in plain language. Rather than asking workers to switch between systems, these suppliers are increasingly trying to bring information and actions into a single conversational layer.
HiBob’s argument is that AI systems will not be fully useful to businesses unless they can account for the people behind the work as well as the work itself. The Slack integration is its attempt to put that principle into a tool employees already use throughout the working day.
After it was reported that households in the OX29 area were running without water this morning (Tuesday, June 23), Thames Water has said the issue has been fixed.
At around 7.30am, the company said it was aware of an issue impacting customers in the Witney, OX29 area and was working on a solution.
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At the time West Oxfordshire District Council said it had been informed of the problem and encouraged people to check in on vulnerable neighbours, friends and relatives possibly impacted.
However, now, it appears the issue has been fixed.
At 2pm, a spokesperson for Thames Water said: “We are pleased to confirm that repairs to the burst water pipe at Poffley End Lane have now been successfully completed, and water supplies are being restored to affected customers.
“As water returns to the network, you may initially experience lower water pressure than normal.
“This is expected while the system recharges and pressure gradually builds back up across the area. Your water supply should continue to improve throughout the afternoon.
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“If you live in a block of flats and are still experiencing issues once supplies have returned, you may need to contact your managing agent to arrange for any internal booster pumps to be checked and reset.
“Often when your water returns it may be discoloured at first (rusty, white or milky in colour), this is normal.”
They added: “We are sorry for the disruption caused and appreciate your continued support.”
Bicester Village‘s The Double Red Duke will live screen England matches in the World Cup.
Free tickets for the England vs Ghana game tonight, Tuesday, June 23, have already sold out, but tickets to the game on Saturday, June 27, where the Three Lions will play against Panama, are still available.
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The game will kick-off at 10pm but guests are welcome to arrive from 7pm onwards to settle in and soak up the atmosphere with plenty of time to enjoy a drink and find your perfect viewing spot.
It will offer a lively al fresco atmosphere while serving drinks from The Defender Bar and relaxed British dining from the restaurant.
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