Adult content

Age verification for adult platforms

Adult platforms now face highly effective age assurance duties. Tessio checks age with no ID upload and stores no documents or dates of birth, because the visitor proves they are over 18 with the EU age verification app (the EU Digital Identity Wallet follows once our access certificate is issued).

Create an account → See the API

The problem

The UK Online Safety Act requires highly effective age assurance on services that show pornographic content, enforced by Ofcom with serious penalties. National laws across the EU add their own rules. Handing an adult site a photo of an ID is a lot to ask, and you do not want to store it.

With Tessio the visitor proves they are over 18 in the EU age verification app, you get a signed yes or no and neither of us keeps a document or a date of birth.

Before and after

Without Tessio

An ID upload at the gate, which ties an ID image to adult browsing.
Self declaration that fails the highly effective bar.

With Tessio

A wallet based over 18 proof with no document to upload.
No documents or dates of birth stored, so there is no sensitive dataset to leak.
A signed age check you can keep as evidence.
Checks each attestation against the age verification trusted list the Commission publishes.

How it works

Call the API at the gate

POST an age check before you grant access to adult content. You get a hosted verification link to send the visitor to.

The visitor confirms 18+

They prove they are over 18 in the EU age verification app. No ID upload.

You get a signed result

A signed yes or no lands on your webhook. You grant access and hold evidence, storing no documents or dates of birth.

Start a check

One POST creates a check and returns a link for the user's wallet. The signed result lands on your webhook. Full detail is in the developer docs.

curl -X POST https://api.tessio.eu/v1/age-checks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer tk_your_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: gate-4821" \
  -d '{ "minAge": 18, "reference": "gate-4821" }'

Frequently asked

Does this meet the UK Online Safety Act?

The Act requires highly effective age assurance, which Ofcom says must be "technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair". Ofcom lists digital identity services and wallets among methods that can be highly effective. A wallet check works only for someone who has an EU wallet credential, so under the UK Act you need another method for UK users without one. Tessio gives you a cryptographic over 18 proof, but you're responsible for meeting Ofcom's criteria, so review our Online Safety Act summary and confirm your setup.

What does the visitor have to share?

Only an over 18 answer from their credential. No document changes hands, and the credential carries no name or date of birth.

What about visitors without a wallet?

Few people have the EU age verification app yet. The rollout is early and we do not provide a document or selfie fallback, so Tessio is not a drop in replacement for your current age checks. The realistic path is to run Tessio alongside what you already use and move more traffic to the app as adoption grows.

Put it in front of your users

Signup is open and a test project works as soon as you create one. Sending real traffic needs us to switch your organisation to live mode, so that part stays a conversation. Pricing is published, with no quote needed.

Create an account → Read the docs