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Leader Live
26-06-2025
- Leader Live
Porn sites to use ‘highly effective' age checks next month to protect children
Major providers including Pornhub, Stripchat and Jerkmate have agreed to the stronger measures, which apply to both dedicated adult sites and social media, search or gaming services, as part of the Online Safety Act (OSA). Any company that fails to comply with the checks by July 25 could be fined or could be made unavailable in the UK through a court order. The platforms must also make sure the measures do not compromise the privacy of adults or prevent them from accessing legal content. Age assurance methods can include credit card checks, open banking or facial age estimation to verify or guess how old someone is. The regulator said 'the way in which these solutions are implemented in practice' will decide whether it is compliant with the OSA. It comes after new Ofcom research found that 8% of eight to 14-year-olds in the UK had visited an online porn site or app on smartphones, tablets or computers in a month. Earlier this month, Ofcom said it had launched a string of investigations into 4chan, a porn site operator and several file-sharing platforms over suspected failures to protect children, after it received complaints about illegal activity and potential sharing of child abuse images. It said none of the services responded to its legal information requests. Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom group director of online safety, said: 'Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren't suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling. '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.' A report looking into the use and effectiveness of age assurance methods will be published by Ofcom next year. Charities welcomed the announcement but said the regulator needed to properly enforce the measures or even take them further. Tim Cairns, online safety policy lead at Care, which campaigned for age verification for almost a decade, said: 'Age verification measures that prevent children from accessing pornography are long overdue. 'Porn use is linked to sexual harassment in schools and violent sexual crime. Studies also demonstrate its harmful impact on relationships and mental health. 'It is vital that Ofcom gets this right.' Rani Govender, policy manager for child safety online at the NSPCC, said: 'It is time tech companies take responsibility for ensuring children have safe, age-appropriate experiences online and we welcome the progress that Ofcom are making in this space. 'To make this a reality, platforms must also effectively enforce their minimum age limits. 'There is currently a gap in legislation which the Government must address to ensure Ofcom can hold companies accountable for protecting young children online.'
South Wales Argus
26-06-2025
- South Wales Argus
Porn sites to use ‘highly effective' age checks next month to protect children
Major providers including Pornhub, Stripchat and Jerkmate have agreed to the stronger measures, which apply to both dedicated adult sites and social media, search or gaming services, as part of the Online Safety Act (OSA). Any company that fails to comply with the checks by July 25 could be fined or could be made unavailable in the UK through a court order. The platforms must also make sure the measures do not compromise the privacy of adults or prevent them from accessing legal content. Age assurance methods can include credit card checks, open banking or facial age estimation to verify or guess how old someone is. The regulator said 'the way in which these solutions are implemented in practice' will decide whether it is compliant with the OSA. It comes after new Ofcom research found that 8% of eight to 14-year-olds in the UK had visited an online porn site or app on smartphones, tablets or computers in a month. Earlier this month, Ofcom said it had launched a string of investigations into 4chan, a porn site operator and several file-sharing platforms over suspected failures to protect children, after it received complaints about illegal activity and potential sharing of child abuse images. It said none of the services responded to its legal information requests. Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom group director of online safety, said: 'Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren't suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling. '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.' A report looking into the use and effectiveness of age assurance methods will be published by Ofcom next year. Charities welcomed the announcement but said the regulator needed to properly enforce the measures or even take them further. Tim Cairns, online safety policy lead at Care, which campaigned for age verification for almost a decade, said: 'Age verification measures that prevent children from accessing pornography are long overdue. 'Porn use is linked to sexual harassment in schools and violent sexual crime. Studies also demonstrate its harmful impact on relationships and mental health. 'It is vital that Ofcom gets this right.' Rani Govender, policy manager for child safety online at the NSPCC, said: 'It is time tech companies take responsibility for ensuring children have safe, age-appropriate experiences online and we welcome the progress that Ofcom are making in this space. 'To make this a reality, platforms must also effectively enforce their minimum age limits. 'There is currently a gap in legislation which the Government must address to ensure Ofcom can hold companies accountable for protecting young children online.'
Daily Mirror
26-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
Adult content ban looms for UK from next month as Ofcom announces new age checks
Ofcom's new age measures on adult content will apply in the UK to both dedicated adult sites and social media, search or gaming services, as part of the Online Safety Act (OSA) All UK adult content sites will implement "highly effective" age verification within the next month to better safeguard children, according to an announcement by regulator Ofcom. Major providers such as Pornhub, Stripchat and Jerkmate have agreed to these enhanced measures, which apply to both dedicated adult sites and social media, search or gaming services, under the Online Safety Act (OSA). Any firm that fails to comply with the checks by July 25, 2025 could face fines or be blocked in the UK through a court order. The platforms are also required to ensure these measures do not infringe on the privacy of adults or hinder them from accessing legal content. The Online Safety Act was passed into law in August 2024. The Act provides a regulatory framework to regulate internet services and make the online world safer for individuals in the United Kingdom. This includes illegal content and activity, as well as content that is harmful to children. Age verification methods may include credit card checks, open banking or facial age estimation to determine or estimate a user's age. Ofcom stated that "the way in which these solutions are implemented in practice" will determine whether it complies with the OSA. This follows new research by Ofcom revealing that 8% of eight to 14 year olds in the UK had visited an online adult content site or app on smartphones, tablets or computers within a month. In June 2025, Ofcom announced it had initiated several investigations into 4chan, an adult content site operator and various file-sharing platforms over suspected failures to protect children, following complaints about illegal activity and potential sharing of child abuse images. It reported that none of the services responded to its legal information requests. Ofcom's group director of online safety, Oliver Griffiths, remarked on the increased protection for children online, saying: "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," Griffiths added. "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." Ofcom also plans to release a report on the use and effectiveness of age assurance methods next year.
South Wales Guardian
26-06-2025
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
Porn sites to use ‘highly effective' age checks next month to protect children
Major providers including Pornhub, Stripchat and Jerkmate have agreed to the stronger measures, which apply to both dedicated adult sites and social media, search or gaming services, as part of the Online Safety Act (OSA). Any company that fails to comply with the checks by July 25 could be fined or could be made unavailable in the UK through a court order. The platforms must also make sure the measures do not compromise the privacy of adults or prevent them from accessing legal content. Age assurance methods can include credit card checks, open banking or facial age estimation to verify or guess how old someone is. The regulator said 'the way in which these solutions are implemented in practice' will decide whether it is compliant with the OSA. It comes after new Ofcom research found that 8% of eight to 14-year-olds in the UK had visited an online porn site or app on smartphones, tablets or computers in a month. Earlier this month, Ofcom said it had launched a string of investigations into 4chan, a porn site operator and several file-sharing platforms over suspected failures to protect children, after it received complaints about illegal activity and potential sharing of child abuse images. It said none of the services responded to its legal information requests. Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom group director of online safety, said: 'Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren't suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling. '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.' A report looking into the use and effectiveness of age assurance methods will be published by Ofcom next year.
Glasgow Times
26-06-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Porn sites to use ‘highly effective' age checks next month to protect children
Major providers including Pornhub, Stripchat and Jerkmate have agreed to the stronger measures, which apply to both dedicated adult sites and social media, search or gaming services, as part of the Online Safety Act (OSA). Any company that fails to comply with the checks by July 25 could be fined or could be made unavailable in the UK through a court order. The platforms must also make sure the measures do not compromise the privacy of adults or prevent them from accessing legal content. Age assurance methods can include credit card checks, open banking or facial age estimation to verify or guess how old someone is. The regulator said 'the way in which these solutions are implemented in practice' will decide whether it is compliant with the OSA. It comes after new Ofcom research found that 8% of eight to 14-year-olds in the UK had visited an online porn site or app on smartphones, tablets or computers in a month. Earlier this month, Ofcom said it had launched a string of investigations into 4chan, a porn site operator and several file-sharing platforms over suspected failures to protect children, after it received complaints about illegal activity and potential sharing of child abuse images. It said none of the services responded to its legal information requests. Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom group director of online safety, said: 'Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren't suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling. '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.' A report looking into the use and effectiveness of age assurance methods will be published by Ofcom next year.
