Age and Identity Verification

PlayHouse is for adults only. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, to view or buy Content, or to post Content on PlayHouse. This page explains the checks Creators, Fans and Agencies go through, who carries them out, and what happens if a check fails.

Contents

1. Why do we check age and identity?
2. How do we verify Creators?
3. How do Fans pass age assurance?
4. How does sensitive Content work?
5. How do we verify Agencies?
6. Who carries out the checks?
7. What happens to your data?
8. What happens if a check fails?
9. How do I report someone who may be under 18?
10. Regional information

Why do we check age and identity?

• To keep minors off PlayHouse. Much of the Content on PlayHouse is not suitable for anyone under 18, and no one under 18 may appear in Content on PlayHouse.
• To know who is earning on PlayHouse. Creators sell Content and receive payouts, so we need to know who they are, that they are adults, and that we are allowed to pay them.
• Because the law requires it. Many countries and US states require online services that allow adult content to prevent children from accessing it.

How do we verify Creators?

Anyone can sign up to PlayHouse with an email address. To become a Creator, you must:

1. Give your details, including your first and last name, a username, a profile photo, your country, your mobile number and your date of birth. You must be 18 or older.
2. Complete identity verification with our identity verification provider. This involves:
   • photographing a valid government-issued ID document, which is read to confirm your details and date of birth;
   • a liveness check, to confirm a real person is present;
   • a face match between your live selfie and the photo on your ID; and
   • screening against sanctions lists, politically exposed persons lists and other watchlists.

Approval as a Creator is automated once you pass verification, and our team may also review an application. You must pass verification before you can be paid out. You may use an AI-generated profile picture, but verification always needs a real, live selfie of you, and every Creator account must belong to a verified real person.

Anyone else who appears in explicit Content must be a verified PlayHouse Creator or have completed our co-performer release form, which verifies their age and identity and records their consent. Read more in our Acceptable Use Policy.

We may ask you to verify your identity again, for example if we have reason to believe someone other than the verified Creator is using an account.

How do Fans pass age assurance?

Signing up as a Fan needs only an email address. We don't ask for your age at sign-up. Instead, nothing that is age-restricted can be seen or bought until you pass our age assurance. You must pass it before you can:

• see sensitive Content, anywhere on PlayHouse;
• see photos, videos or other media in direct messages;
• buy or unlock paid Content;
• subscribe to a Creator;
• buy VIP message bundles or live-stream tickets; or
• join a live stream.

You pass age assurance in one of these ways:

1. You are a verified Creator. If you have already passed Creator verification, you don't need to do anything more.
2. A credit card saved to your own account, which is checked with your bank. Debit and prepaid cards can't be used to confirm your age.
3. Facial age estimation. You take a live selfie, and our identity verification provider estimates your age from it. If the estimate doesn't clearly show that you are an adult, you will also be asked to verify a government-issued ID document, which is matched to your selfie.
4. Review by our team, where an automated check needs a person to look at it.

You only need to pass once; the result stays on your account. Step-by-step help is in our help article Confirm your age.

How does sensitive Content work?

Content we treat as sensitive is shown as a blurred preview unless you are signed in, have passed age assurance and have chosen to see sensitive Content. Anyone else, including anyone who is not signed in, sees only the blurred preview.

How do we verify Agencies?

An Agency is a business that helps Creators run their accounts. Before we approve an Agency, it must pass business verification, which confirms the business and the people behind it. Every Agency account must use an authenticator app as a second step when signing in. Creators who work with an Agency are verified in the same way as every other Creator.

Who carries out the checks?

Identity verification and facial age estimation are carried out on our behalf by our identity verification provider, on a secure verification page. The provider tells us the result of each check. Our team reviews any check that can't give a clear result, and our team makes decisions about accounts.

What happens to your data?

Verification involves sensitive personal information, including images of your face and your ID document. The liveness check, face match and facial age estimation use biometric technology. Before any face check starts, our identity verification provider shows you a consent screen that explains that it uses facial recognition to verify your identity and that your session video will be recorded. You choose whether to continue.

• We use verification information only to check age and identity, to keep PlayHouse safe, to prevent fraud and to meet our legal obligations. We don't sell it or use it for advertising.
• Biometric data is destroyed when the purpose for which it was collected has been satisfied, and no later than three years after your last interaction with PlayHouse, unless the law requires us to keep it longer.
• Records of the outcome of verification are kept for as long as we need them for legal, safety and fraud-prevention purposes.

Our Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how it is used and shared, how long it is kept and the rights you have, including how to ask for a copy of your data or for it to be deleted through our legal request form.

What happens if a check fails?

• Creators: you can try verification up to three times within seven days. If you can't pass, you can't be approved as a Creator or receive payouts. If you think something has gone wrong, contact us through our contact form.
• Fans: if the check can't confirm you're 18 or over, you won't be able to see sensitive or paid content. You can try again, and we may review the account. You can try up to three times a day. Until you pass, you can't use any of the features listed above, sensitive Content stays blurred, and we email you to let you know.
• Anyone: if we have reason to believe you are under 18, or that you have tried to get around our checks (for example, by using someone else's ID, card or face), we may restrict, suspend or close your account. If you think we have made a mistake about your account, you can appeal under our Appeals Policy.

How do I report someone who may be under 18?

• Use the Report action on the post, profile, story, comment, message or conversation, live stream or video call, and choose Someone may be under 18. You need to be signed in.
• If you're not signed in or don't have an account, use our contact form, choose Report illegal or harmful content, and include a link to the profile or Content.
• If you believe a child is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first. You can also report suspected child sexual exploitation to NCMEC's CyberTipline.

We review these reports as a priority, act where we find a problem, and tell you the outcome. Read more in Combating Child Sexual Abuse Material.

Regional information

We apply the age assurance described on this page everywhere, rather than country by country, so the same protections apply wherever you are.

United Kingdom

The Online Safety Act 2023 requires services that allow pornographic content to use age assurance that is highly effective at determining whether a user is a child, so that children don't encounter it. PlayHouse uses highly effective age assurance before anyone can see sensitive or paid Content, including media in direct messages. We carry out an illegal content risk assessment and a children's access assessment and keep them under review. Ofcom is the regulator. If you are in the UK and think our age assurance has assessed you incorrectly, you can complain to us under our Complaints Policy.

United States

A number of US states have laws requiring websites with a substantial amount of sexual content to verify that their users are adults. We apply our age assurance to every Fan, in every state, before they can see sensitive or paid Content.

Australia

Under the Online Safety Act 2021, the eSafety Commissioner oversees industry codes and standards, including codes that expect services hosting age-restricted material to take steps, such as age assurance, to keep children from accessing it. You can raise a concern with us under our Complaints Policy or contact eSafety.