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In late July 2025 the Online Safety Act 2023 was passed in the United Kingdom (my home country) and similar legislations were passed in some other countries. These legislations aim to protect the children from adult/NSFW content, i.e. those inappropriate for children. Websites need to implement robust age verification to access adult content. However, wikiHow contains many articles (5-10%) on adults-only content, i.e. pornography or sex, and when accessing them in the UK, there are no age verifications yet.

What should wikiHow do with articles on adults-only content to comply with these legislations? In my opinion, there are a few choices:

  1. Restrict these to over-18s via a robust age verification system (adds more cost, decreases privacy)
  2. Delete these articles (loses some visitors)

Any thoughts on these legislations and how these affects wikiHow?

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This is a question better suited for wikiHow’s legal team to comment on, rather than a community-wide discussion. That being said, I can see you have already inquired about this, and received a response on your talk page from the @CommunityTeam :

Hi there, thanks so much for bringing this up! While this isn’t my area of expertise, this law is on our team’s radar, and we’ll be sure to communicate any relevant updates to the community when ready.

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From a quick glance through the legislation, the question appears inherently flawed as it is based broadly on a misunderstanding or misapplication of what the law actually says. A soft age gate (i.e. user confirms they are over 18) that may be applied to articles in a certain category would be the only potential requirement for compliance.

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It’s partly up to interpretation. However, at least in the UK, “Platforms will be required to prevent children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content.” [ Online Safety Act: explainer - GOV.UK source] I’ve seen other sites partnering with age-estimating software (YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, etc.) Maybe we could do the same?

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I don’t know anything about tech or laws (also not an admin or NAB) so take my opinion with a huge grain of salt, but personally I’d prefer Tiagaroth’s idea over Blok’s? I agree with ComputerBlade’s post on wT about age estimation software not being a suitable replacement for managing what your kids see on the internet, and that’s not mentioning the potential privacy concerns a lot of people would have about this.

So far, I’d say the best choices would be to:

  1. Lower the amount of NSFW articles/quizzes, which is something that BPG, RubyRoseRain, WikiBoat, and a few other editors suggested on this thread .
  • No major pros/cons, but maybe some ambiguity on certain quizzes like the helluva boss and hazbin hotel ones? The quizzes don’t mention anything past PG, but both series are known for having a dark and sexual sense of humor. It’s also easy to make NSFW jokes on the input your own answers quizzes. Also a question of whether some people would wrongly flag LGBT+ articles as sexual.
A joke I made as a test, NSFW language and implied incest

Analysis complete!

:collision:Emotional Damage Level: 10/10 — Inappropriate Sibling FlirtationYour sibling’s wild declaration of “you are fuckable :3” while casually mentioning Alabama takes sibling awkwardness to a whole new, surreal level—especially since you’re into it! It’s an energetic blend of absurdity and gall that leaves everyone cringing and giggling at the same time.

:brain:Damage Breakdown:
Roast Quality:Unbelievably bold—sure to shock and amuse!
Setting:The Alabama backdrop adds a layer of absurdity to the familial dynamic.
Roaster:The familial connection makes this bizarrely fun and embarrassing all at once!

:adhesive_bandage:Recovery Tip:Embrace the humor! Lightly tease them back, and remember that family dynamics thrive on these outrageous moments—you’ll have a legendary story to recount at reunions!

  1. Add a soft age gate over specific articles (specifically thinking of an age gate like itch.io ’s where you just have to check yes to if you’re over 18, but that discussion’s too technical for me), not entire categories. While I do think Tiagoroth’s idea is the best and most easily achievable, I’d suggest adding age gates to specific articles and not entire categories because:
  • The same problem with certain types flagging/reporting the category:LGBT articles as sexual
  • A good amount of articles in the relationships category lean towards seduction (see: category:seduction ), but there are articles that aren’t seduction related. The relationships category is a bit weird in that there are articles specifically meant to be about seduction in category:seduction, but there’s a lot of articles that aren’t in that category and are basically as much about seduction as you want it to be. (I’m ace so might just be ace confusion)
  • Reproductive system health . Not sure where medical knowledge ends and 18+ starts here, since in the main category page (not including Category:Sexual activity which is 90% sexy sex stuff) everything is meant to be read as medical advice but I’m assuming there’s still stuff you wouldn’t want a 9-year old to see like Control Sexual Urges ?

(Not gonna @ anyone since it might be annoying)