Global Safety & Compliance

Our Global Safety Promise

Stronger protections: SPHERE may adopt standards that exceed a jurisdiction’s minimum safety requirements when lawful and appropriate. Those standards must remain proportionate, transparent, consistently enforced and respectful of privacy, accessibility, lawful expression and appeal rights.

United Kingdom

This section applies to SPHERE services offered in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Current responsibilities

SPHERE is preparing its United Kingdom service with reference to the Online Safety Act 2023 and applicable Ofcom codes and guidance.

Important areas include:

• Illegal-content risk assessment and mitigation.
• Protection from content that is harmful to children.
• Consistent enforcement of SPHERE’s stated minimum age.
• Clear and understandable terms and policies.
• Accessible reporting, complaints and appeal procedures.
• Appropriate protection of privacy and lawful expression.
• Preservation of appropriate safety and compliance records.

Members aged 16 and 17

• Enhanced privacy and sensitive-content protection by default.
• Restrictions on unknown-adult contact, public location information and livestreaming.
• Consecutive video autoplay disabled by default.
• A chronological or less-personalized feed available by default.
• Midnight-to-6 a.m. quiet mode enabled by default.
• Overnight push notifications muted by default.
• Clear explanations of age-based settings and available choices.

Announced spring 2027 direction

In July 2026, the United Kingdom government announced under-16 social-media restrictions and additional default protections for 16- and 17-year-olds.

The first regulations are expected to be laid before Parliament by the end of 2026, with measures expected to take effect in spring 2027.

Status: SPHERE is preparing for this announced direction and will review and update its systems when the regulations and regulator guidance are finalized. SPHERE does not claim compliance with final 2027 regulations before those requirements have been finalized, implemented and independently reviewed.

Age assurance

A self-declared date of birth or an ordinary payment transaction is not treated as sufficient proof of age by itself.

SPHERE intends to use a privacy-preserving age-assurance method capable of confirming an appropriate age band while minimizing the collection and retention of identity information.

Possible methods may include trusted digital identity, photo-identification matching, facial age estimation, mobile-network age checks or another method that is shown to be technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair.

Official information: UK Online Safety Act explainer · Ofcom age-assurance guidance · July 2026 government announcement

European Union & European Economic Area

SPHERE’s European Union and EEA preparation addresses the General Data Protection Regulation, the Digital Services Act and applicable national requirements. Country-specific additions may also apply.

Advertising and younger members

SPHERE will not use known minor status or sensitive personal information to create exploitative advertising experiences. Advertising shown to younger members must follow applicable regional restrictions and SPHERE’s stronger safety standards.

Country differences

SPHERE does not use a single European Union statement to erase national differences. We will add or update country information as SPHERE targets additional European Union and EEA markets.

Official information: European Commission—Digital Services Act · Official GDPR text

Republic of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland is treated as a separate sovereign European Union market.

SPHERE’s preparation includes the General Data Protection Regulation, the Digital Services Act, the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 and applicable Irish regulatory codes and guidance.

• SPHERE’s worldwide 16+ membership policy applies.
• Irish members receive applicable GDPR rights and accessible privacy information.
• Reporting, blocking, moderation decisions and appeals are central requirements.
• Age assurance and protection from harmful video content are included in SPHERE’s product planning.
• SPHERE respects Ireland’s digital-consent rules without misdescribing them as a national social-media ban.

SPHERE is committed to understanding and meeting applicable requirements administered by Coimisiún na Meán and the Irish Data Protection Commission. This statement does not imply government approval, regulator endorsement or an established cooperative relationship.

Official information: Coimisiún na Meán—Online Safety Code · Irish Data Protection Commission

United States

SPHERE’s 16+ membership policy is stricter than the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act threshold, but a stated age limit does not remove every federal or state responsibility.

SPHERE must enforce its age gate, avoid encouraging false ages, protect personal information and comply with applicable consumer-protection, privacy, criminal, reporting and state-specific requirements.

• No account creation for a person SPHERE determines is under the age of 16.
• Neutral age screening that does not encourage people to provide a false age.
• No deceptive or manipulative safety, payment, advertising or subscription practices.
• Privacy and security safeguards appropriate to the information SPHERE collects.
• State-by-state tracking for privacy, biometrics, minor-safety and social-media requirements.
• Preparation for California requirements concerning addictive feeds, age assurance and parental consent.
• Reporting and escalation for child exploitation, credible threats and other serious illegal activity.

Federal and state proposals must be identified as proposed or developing until they are enacted and effective. SPHERE will not describe a pending bill or blocked requirement as current law.

Official information: Federal Trade Commission COPPA guidance · California SB 976 information

Canada

SPHERE will address applicable federal and provincial privacy, consumer, safety and criminal requirements.

In June 2026, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-34, the proposed Safe Social Media Act. The proposal includes an under-16 account restriction and additional duties for social platforms and certain artificial-intelligence chatbot services.

SPHERE’s Canadian preparation

• A consistently enforced 16+ membership rule.
• Safety and design risk assessments.
• Blocking, reporting and complaint procedures.
• Protection from child sexual exploitation and abuse.
• Protection from non-consensual intimate content, including sexualized deepfakes.
• Appropriate labeling of synthetic or artificially generated content.
• Clear public safety information and development of a Digital Safety Plan.
• Appropriate safeguards for OUDI D2 and other artificial-intelligence interactions.

Status: Bill C-34 is proposed legislation and must not be described as enacted law unless its legislative status changes.

Official information: Government of Canada—Bill C-34 information · Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Brazil

Brazil is a priority Latin American market requiring its own legal and operational review.

SPHERE’s preparation includes Brazil’s General Personal Data Protection Law, the Child and Adolescent Statute and ECA Digital, which entered into force in March 2026.

• Reliable, proportionate and privacy-conscious age-assessment planning.
• Prevention and mitigation of risks to children and adolescents.
• Appropriate supervision and safety controls where required.
• Protection of children’s and adolescents’ personal information and best interests.
• Reporting, blocking, complaints and review procedures.
• Advertising and commercial-practice safeguards.
• Portuguese-language policies and safety information before targeted public promotion.

Official information: Brazilian National Data Protection Authority—ECA Digital

Latin America & Additional Countries

SPHERE will not claim that one policy automatically satisfies every country in Latin America, South America, North America or another region.

Privacy, child protection, consumer protection, criminal law, advertising, payments and platform-liability requirements differ between countries.

Before a targeted country launch

• Identify the country’s applicable laws and regulators.
• Review privacy, safety, consumer and advertising requirements.
• Provide policies in the appropriate local language.
• Review cultural and regional safety considerations.
• Test reporting, blocking, moderation and appeal procedures.
• Connect every public promise to a working technical control.
• Obtain qualified local review where required.

Country information will be added or revised as SPHERE selects and enters additional markets. A regional heading is not a claim that every country inside that region has identical laws.

International & United Nations Principles

SPHERE treats internationally recognized human-rights and children’s-rights principles as an ethical foundation for its worldwide safety standards.

These principles guide SPHERE’s approach to:

• Safety and protection from exploitation.
• Privacy and responsible data use.
• Access to knowledge, education and culture.
• Non-discrimination and accessibility.
• Participation and meaningful community.
• Respect for lawful expression.
• The best interests and evolving capacities of young people.

International principles do not replace national or regional laws. SPHERE’s 16+ membership policy continues to apply even where a jurisdiction permits younger people to use other platforms.

Your Rights, Reports & Appeals

Members should be able to understand SPHERE’s rules, report concerns, block unwanted contact, receive meaningful explanations and seek review of eligible moderation decisions.

Privacy requests

Where applicable, members may request access to, correction of, deletion of, restriction of or portability of their personal information. Available rights depend on the member’s location and the law that applies.