The UK has fined a porn operator called AVS Group £1 million ($1.33 million) for failing to have strong enough age checks, regulator Ofcom announced. The company which was also hit with an additional £50,000 fine for its failure to respond to information request and now has 72 hours to introduce effective age checks or face a further penalty of £1,000 a day.
In July, the UK government announced it would start checking compliance by websites that publish or display pornographic content to implement a system for “highly effective age checks.” Methods approved by Ofcom include credit card checks, photo ID matching and even estimating a user’s age with a provided selfie. However, users have been circumventing the age checks via methods like using a VPN and providing a fake ChatGPT-generated photo ID.
The fine is the third such penalty arising from the UK’s Online Safety Act designed to protect children and adults from harmful content. In October, 4Chan was also hit with a £20,000 ($26,700) fine for failing to comply with the internet and telecommunications regulator’s request for information under the same law.
The UK isn’t the only region to have implemented age checks. Around half of US states now require it, as do France, Italy, Australia and China. Australia took things a step further by banning social media use by children under 16, including sites popular with young people like Twitch and YouTube.
Ofcom’s safety director, Oliver Griffiths, said the crackdown on weak age verification for adult sites would continue. “The tide on online safety is beginning to turn for the better. But we need to see much more from tech companies next year and we’ll use our full powers if they fall short.”
