Britain's porn crackdown begins TOMORROW: Users will have to prove they're over-18 to access hundreds of adult sites like Pornhub
From tomorrow (July 25), porn sites available in the UK will have to perform stringent checks to ensure visitors are aged 18 or over.
In an attempt to stop children accessing porn, adults will have to submit ID or even have their face scanned, depending on what site they access.
Several porn providers have confirmed to online regular Ofcom that they will introduce these checks by tomorrow's deadline.
They include Pornhub, BoyfriendTV, Cam4, FrolicMe, inxxx, Jerkmate, LiveHDCams, MyDirtyHobby, RedTube, Streamate, Stripchat, Tube8 and YouPorn.
Other online platforms have also confirmed they will deploy age assurance - including Bluesky, Discord, Grindr, Reddit, and X.
If any sites fail to do so, Ofcom can impose fines and in very serious cases apply for a court order to prevent the site or app from being available.
'We will be actively checking compliance from 25 July and, should it be necessary, we expect to launch any investigations into individual services next week,' Ofcom said.
Why is the porn crackdown happening?
According to Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom's group director of online safety, making life safer online 'is one of the defining challenges of our era'.
'Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren't suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling,' he said.
'But for too long children have been only a click away from harmful pornography online.
'Now, change is happening. These age checks will bring pornography into line with how we treat adult services in the real world, without compromising access and privacy for over-18s.'
How will the age checks work?
Ofcom has already listed seven methods that porn providers could use.
Ultimately, which one they opt for is their decision, not Ofcom's, but their chosen method must be 'highly effective' at correctly determining if a user is under 18.
Ofcom's seven suggested strategies are photo-ID matching, facial age estimation, mobile-network operator (MNO) age checks, credit card checks, email-based age estimation, digital identity services and open banking.
Open banking works by accessing the information a bank has on record regarding a user's age, while photo-ID matching involves uploading a verified photo-ID document, like a PDF of a passport of driving licence.
Facial age estimate works by analysing the features of a user's face from a photo to work their age, while MNO age checks involve mobile-network operators applying age-restriction filters themselves.
Because you must be 18 to get a credit card in the UK, credit card checks are also listed as 'highly effective', as are email-based age estimations, which estimate your age based on other services where you've provided your email address.
'The process can be as simple as submitting an email address and will return an accurate result in seconds,' explained Lina Ghazal, head of regulatory and public affairs at safety tech firm Verifymy.
What happens if porn sites don't comply?
Ofcom says that many porn sites have already put their age checks in place.
It stresses that the law applies to all sites and apps that allow pornography – whether they are dedicated adult sites or social media, search or gaming services.
Fines for non-comply could be up to £18 million or 10 per cent of the platform's qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.
The Online Safety Act
The crackdown is part of the Online Safety Act 2023 – a set of laws that protects children and adults online.
Mrs Ghazal said it is a 'great step forward for child safety', adding: 'It means some of the world's biggest sites will have highly effective age assurance in place that protects children and also preserves the privacy of users.'
The idea of implementing age checks on pornography websites, and fining those sites that don't comply, has existed for several years now.
Back in 2016, the UK government launched a public consultation over plans to implement age checks on pornography sites.
It was then included in the Digital Economy Act 2017 – but the provision was delayed and eventually abandoned in October 2019.
Government said at the time age checks would be delivered through its 'proposed online harms regulatory regime' – in other words, the Online Safety Bill.
One criticism of age-checking technology for porn is regarding concerns about handing sensitive identification information – namely age or date of birth – to third parties.
'Everyone realised right from the start – 2016 – that users were not going to want to share their name, let alone a copy of their passport or driving licence, with a porn site,' said Iain Corby, director of Age Verification Providers Association.
New research from Ofcom reveals the extent to which children are accessing porn online, and underlines the need for new measures to protect them.
It found that eight per cent of children aged 8-14 in the UK visited an online porn site or app in a month – including around 3 per cent of 8–9-year-olds – the youngest children in the study.
Ofcom's research tracked the use of websites and apps by 8–14-year-olds across smartphones, tablets and computers over a month.
Boys aged 13-14 (19 per cent) were mostly likely to visit a porn service, significantly more than girls the same age (11 per cent).
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The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Rival groups gather as asylum hotel protest begins
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Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Migrant hotel residents film and laugh as they watch protesters and counter-demonstrators clash on streets of Islington
People believed to be migrants have been seen filming and laughing as protesters and counter-demonstrators clash in the streets of Islington today. A protest against the use of a Thistle City Barbican Hotel in Islington, north London to accommodating asylum seekers has begun. Rival groups of protesters have had to be separated by police as the Metropolitan Police has imposed conditions on both the protest and counter demonstration. People believed to be migrants watched from open windows inside the hotel as protesters chanted and banged drums in the street below on Saturday afternoon. A protest and counter-protest will also take place in Newcastle outside The New Bridge Hotel on Saturday. Police said the anti-asylum hotel protest had been 'endorsed by groups from outside the local community which is likely to increase the number of people attending'. Online groups that have voiced support for the protest include 'Patriots of Britain' and 'Together for the Children'. A student counter-protester outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel said he wants migrants to 'feel safe' in the UK.. Pat Prendergast, 21, said: 'I want people to feel safe. I think the (rival protesters) over there are making people feel unsafe. 'I want to stand up in solidarity and say that, you know, we want people here. We want migrants. We want asylum seekers.' A noticeably smaller group of protesters waved union flags and held banners outside the hotel with one man chanting in the direction of the hotel: ''Get these scum off our streets'. There were brief clashes before police rushed in to separate the two groups. The Metropolitan Police said plans were in place to ' respond to any protest activity in the vicinity of other hotels in London being used to accommodate asylum seekers '. Conditions on the anti-asylum hotel protest include that anyone participating must remain within King Charles Square and that the assembly must not begin before 1pm and must conclude by 4pm. 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Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Dragons' Den venture capitalist is stripped of MBE after being held in contempt of court over unpaid £200,000 legal bill
Former Dragons' Den star Julie Meyer has been stripped of her MBE three years after she was scolded by a British judge for being 'selfish' after refusing to turn up to court or pay her lawyers, it has been revealed. The venture capitalist, 58, was handed a six-month suspended sentence for contempt of court after she repeatedly failed to submit documents and attend hearings relating to £200,000 in unpaid fees to her solicitors, Farrer & Co. Meyer was awarded an MBE in 2012 for her services to entrepreneurship and was invited to sit on two government advisory panels that year. Yet last night it emerged she has forfeited the award for 'bringing the honours system into disrepute'. Her name appears alongside 11 others on a newly-updated list published by the Cabinet Office of individuals stripped of their prestigious gongs since August 2023. At least six of these - all men - were stripped after being convicted of child sex offences, while the others were found guilty of misconduct or acting inappropriately. They include nuclear submarine captain Commander Iain Fergusson who was handed an OBE despite being the subject of a major sex abuse and bullying probe, and former senior Army officer Andrew Whiddett, who was convicted of asking mothers in the Philippines to sexually abuse their children in front of him on a webcam. Meyer is also one of only two women on the infamous list in recent years - the other being former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, who forfeited a CBE for her handling of the Horizon IT scandal. She now joins a roll of shamed individuals that more recently include Grime star Wiley, who made anti-Semitic remarks and likened Jews to the Ku Klux Klan, paralympian Anthony Griffin, who was jailed for dealing heroin and PR guru Anthony Bailey, who was found in contempt for breaching a divorce agreement. Despite her being stripped of the title, she is still styling herself as having an MBE on her multiple websites and LinkedIn. The American-born businesswoman was hailed as one of two new Dragons chosen for an online version of the BBC Two show in 2009 and she formerly advised David Cameron 's government. Meyer was lauded for her business instinct and supported major internet and tech brands early on in their development, including and Skype. But her name hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2022 when she became embroiled in a legal fight with Farrers, the law firm engaged by the late Queen Elizabeth II. 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He added that some of the evidence filed on Meyer's behalf sought to show her as 'too important for the courts of England and Wales to take precedent over her other interests'. In her defence, Meyer said the law firm had 'abused their privileged position as the Queen's lawyers' and claimed they had 'harassed' her and her firm. She lost an appeal to overturn the suspended prison sentence later that year. On her website, she claims to have secured £880million in capital investment and boasts of her 'royal recognition' — her MBE. The American moved to London in July 1998 and made millions from the $50million sale of her firm First Tuesday, a networking group for entrepreneurs and investors, in July 2000. In her Dragons' Den biography, she was described as a World Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow, an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and a regular speaker on entrepreneurship and leadership. The Daily Mail has contacted Meyer for comment. The other new individuals revealed as having forfeited their honours include child sex abuser Wayne O'Donnell, 66, from North Yorkshire, who was jailed for 18 years for raping and sexually abusing two young girls. His MBE, awarded in 1994, has now been taken away from him. Priest Timothy Biles, 89, of Sherborne, Dorset, was stripped of his MBE after being found guilty of sexually assaulting boys in the 1960s at St Francis School in Hooke, leading to him being handed a six-year jail sentence last December. Disgraced former senior Army officer Andrew Whiddett, 76, of Portsmouth, was jailed in 2019 for asking mothers in the Philippines to sexually abuse their children in front of him on a webcam. Whiddett had served in the forces with distinction for 30 years and 'dedicated his life to the country' before moving into security in the Middle East - including working at the British Embassy in Baghdad. He has now forfeited the MBE he was handed in 1988. Former choirmaster and teacher David Pickthall pleaded guilty last October to a series of child sexual offences spanning his career of more than 40 years. Essex Police said he was charged as part of an investigation into alleged offences against 19 people between 1980 and 2021 in Brentwood and Upminster. The former teacher has been stripped of his MBE awarded in 2015 for services to education and charity. Commander Iain Fergusson, the former captain of HMS Vigilant, faced a barrage of bullying and sex abuse complaints brought by whistleblower Sophie Brooke last year. He was cleared of alleged sexual assault by putting his penis in Lt Brook's pocket, but other claims were substantiated, including that he licked her ear, blew on her neck and punched her in the kidneys during periscope training. Cdr Fergusson has now had to hand back the OBE he controversially received while the claims were being probed in 2024. Christian youth festival founder Mike Pilavachi, 67, who established Soul Survivor Anglican Church in 1995, stepped down from the ministry after allegations surfaced two years ago that he wrestled with young men and gave them 'oil massages' while they were in their underwear. He has now forfeited the MBE he was given in 2020. World-renowned classical music conductor Jan Latham-Koenig, 71, was caught in a police sting at London Victoria train station last January after arranging to meet what he believed was a 14-year-old boy he had met on a dating site. But the boy was an undercover police officer posing as a child. He was given a 14-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and has now forfeited the OBE he received in 2020 for services to music and UK-Russian cultural relations. Maths teacher Dr Richard Evans was also forced to hand back the OBE he received for fundraising during Covid after he was found guilty of misconduct. Wayne O'Donnell (left) lost his MBE after he was jailed for raping and sexually abusing two girls, while former Salford priest Peter Conniffe (right) lost his MBE after he was found to have sexually abused a 15-year-old girl during the late 1970s The former deputy of Copland Community School in Wembley, west London, was one of four staff members and two governors accused of defrauding the school to the tune of £2.7million in bonuses. Evans was found to have received unauthorised and excessive bonuses totalling £180,000. Former Salford priest Peter Conniffe was stripped of his MBE for 'bringing the honours system into disrepute' after an investigation found he groomed and sexually abused a 15-year-old girl during the late 1970s, before raping her when she was 24. In 2019 he wrote a letter of apology to the woman, which was made public. Harry Legg, a former Acting Sheriff and Justice of the Peace for St Helena, was jailed for five-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to the historical sexual assault of young boys - resulting in the loss of his OBE. Sean Cox was stripped of the MBE he received in 1999 after receiving a criminal conviction.
