Age Verification Policy

1. Who has to complete a check

A declared date of birth is collected at registration and no account is created below 18. That declaration is not, on its own, treated as age assurance — it is the record that the question was asked.

Beyond it, a check with our verification provider is required before the platform can be used at all. Until it passes, every feature is refused rather than shown in a limited form.

• Using SEPX at all — from the moment an email address is verified, chat, channels, servers, direct messages and the dashboard stay locked until the check returns approved. While it is outstanding, the account is routed to a dedicated verification screen.
• Buying anything — before checkout, whether or not the purchase is itself adult content, and whether or not the buyer has an account.
• Uploading anything, and publishing adult content — before any file is uploaded, and in every case before an account may publish adult content. Publishing is stricter again; see section 4.

2. One standard, everywhere

The same check applies to every account, wherever the person is. We do not switch method or threshold by country.

That is deliberate. A control that changes according to where someone appears to be depends on identifying their location correctly, and can be changed by using a proxy or a VPN. Applying one standard to everyone removes that as a way around the check.

The consequence is that people in territories with a lighter local requirement complete the same check as everyone else.

3. What the check involves

You present a live capture of your face to the provider, who estimate your age from it. Most people complete the check on that alone, and no document is involved at any point.

Where the estimate does not establish that you are 18 or over, the provider asks you for a government-issued identity document and matches the live capture against it. That escalation is decided by the provider, from the capture — not by us, and not from anything you have told us.

The check is started from SEPX and runs on the provider's own page: inside our page where the provider allows itself to be framed, and in a pop-up window where it does not. It is passed once per account — having completed it, you are not asked again for later purchases or other adult channels. Uploading a file is the one exception; see section 4.

4. Publishing accounts are verified more strictly

An account that publishes adult content is verified against a government-issued identity document together with a selfie, in every case and without exception. An age estimate from a face capture does not satisfy this and never unlocks publishing.

The same document check is required before an account may upload any file at all, including avatars, emoji and stickers. An age estimate does not satisfy that either.

The reason is that publishing carries obligations towards the people depicted in the content, which we can only impose on someone whose identity is established. The record-keeping obligations that follow are set out in the Age & Consent Records statement.

5. What we receive, and what we keep

The check happens on the provider's systems. Neither the face capture nor any document is transmitted to, processed by or stored on our own systems.

What reaches us is the outcome, which method established it, and an opaque reference to the check. We keep those for the life of the account and for the statutory retention period after it closes, as evidence that the gate was operated.

Where the check completed on the face capture alone, the provider processes that capture and deletes it, and there is no document — so there is nothing for anyone at SEPX to look at. Where a document was submitted, the provider holds it as our processor, which makes it visible to us in their dashboard. Access to it is restricted to our Director alone, through a named account, and only where there is a reason: an appeal, a suspected impersonation or fraudulent document, a lawful request from a regulator or law-enforcement body, or a card-scheme compliance audit. Moderation staff have no access and see only the outcome.

Verification data is never used for marketing or profiling, and is never sold.

6. If the check does not pass

A check that does not pass leaves the account without adult access and unable to buy. Nothing else about the account changes, and no purchase is taken — the check sits before payment precisely so that nobody pays for something an age gate then withholds.

If you believe the result is wrong, write to support@sepx.cc. A person reviews it; the outcome is not decided by an automated filter alone. We respond within 1 business day.

If you cannot complete the check at all — no camera, or an accessibility barrier — contact support@sepx.cc and we will find another route rather than leaving you without one.

7. Legal basis and standards

Facial age estimation is recognised by Ofcom, in its guidance under the Online Safety Act 2023, as a method capable of meeting the "highly effective age assurance" standard. The escalation to a document check covers the cases the estimate does not carry on its own.

Where United States state statutes require a commercially available method of age verification, both the estimate and the document check are such methods.

Our lawful basis for processing under the UK GDPR is compliance with a legal obligation, together with our obligations under the rules of the card schemes we accept payment under. SEPX LIMITED is the controller; the provider acts as our processor.

8. Your rights, and how to complain

What is collected, why, and for how long is set out in the Privacy Policy, which also explains your rights over that data and how to exercise them. Write to support@sepx.cc.

SEPX LIMITED is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office as a data controller under registration number ZC212736. You can complain to the ICO at any time at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/, on 0303 123 1113, or by post to Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, United Kingdom. You do not have to raise it with us first. If you live outside the United Kingdom you may also complain to the supervisory authority where you live or work.

9. Changes to this policy

If we change the method, the provider, or what is kept, this page is updated before that change takes effect. Contact for questions about it: support@sepx.cc.