UK AADC Standard 7 - Default settings
Set all privacy and safety settings to their most protective values by default
Where this comes from
Provision: Standard 7 - Default settings
Instrument: UK Age Appropriate Design Code
Citation: Information Commissioner's Office, Age Appropriate Design: a code of practice for online services, Standard 7
Text version: ICO Age Appropriate Design Code (statutory code under Data Protection Act 2018 s 123), issued 2 Sept 2020
Who it applies to
It applies when all of these are true:
- Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18
…unless:
- A compelling reason exists where a less protective default directly serves the child's best interests (e.g., safety features that require location sharing). (ICO AADC Standard 7)
Scope in the source's own terms
- Service has configurable privacy/safety settings for children
- Service operates under GDPR (EU scope; block moved from UK-GDPR authorship)
What engineering work it implies
Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:
- Default profile visibility: private (not public)
- Default data sharing: off (opt-in, not opt-out)
- Default location tracking: off
- Default contact discoverability: off
- User can change any default via settings
Evidence an auditor expects
- Technical controlTechnical audit
Default settings configuration for child accounts
Code/configuration showing privacy and safety settings default to most protective values
- User-interface evidenceUser testing
Screenshots of default settings for new child users
Visual evidence of protective default state across all privacy settings
Questions people ask
- Does UK AADC Standard 7 - Default settings apply to my service?
- It applies when Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18. It does not apply where A compelling reason exists where a less protective default directly serves the child's best interests (e.g., safety features that require location sharing). (ICO AADC Standard 7).
- From when does this apply?
- UK AADC Standard 7 - Default settings applies from 2 September 2021. Its current status is: in force.
- What evidence does an auditor expect?
- Default settings configuration for child accounts; Screenshots of default settings for new child users.
Find out whether this one lands on you
Landfall's pre-scan answers the applicability question above for your product in minutes, then turns every obligation that applies into traceable engineering tickets with a citation chain your auditors can follow.
Not legal advice. Landfall maps regulatory obligations to engineering work for planning purposes. Its verdicts are not legal advice and create no attorney-client relationship — verify with qualified counsel before relying on them.