Visitors to websites hosting pornographic content will soon need to go through a “robust” age verification process after Ofcom announced new rules on Thursday designed to protect children online.
The new guidelines are part of the UK regulator’s enforcement of the Online Safety Act, which aims to prevent anyone underage from viewing adult content. It comes just weeks after two new states in the US introduced similar measures, resulting in a backlash from popular porn sites like Pornhub.
Ofcom claims that its approach is designed to be “flexible, tech-neutral and future-proof”, while also being highly effective and allowing space for innovation in age assurance.
“Our approach also takes care to ensure that privacy rights are protected and that adults can still access legal pornography,” Ofcom said in a statement shared with The Independent.
“Our evidence suggests that the vast majority of adults (80 per cent) are broadly supportive of age assurance measures to prevent children from encountering online pornography.”
What do the new age check rules mean?
Any websites or platforms that allow pornography must introduce effective age assurance processes, or else risk fines or other enforcement action from Ofcom.
Age checks could involve users providing a government-approved photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport. Sites could also use facial age estimation technology or credit card checks. Other methods might involve a user having their bank or mobile network confirm that they are over the age of 18.
The exact guidelines are still being decided, with the official guidance expected to be finalised within 12 months. Previous efforts to agree on guidelines faced strong opposition among privacy advocates, resulting in the UK government scrapping them.
When will the new age checks come into force?
Ofcom says that it will begin cracking down on adult paysites from this month, while content aggregators and user-generated platforms like PornHub and OnlyFans will have six months to comply.
This means people will begin to notice changes to the way they access paid-for pornographic content very soon, while changes to free services will come into effect at some point between now and July.
“As age checks start to roll out in the coming months, adults will start to notice a difference in how they access certain online services,” said Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive.
“We’ll be monitoring the response from industry closely. Those companies that fail to meet these new requirements can expect to face enforcement action from Ofcom.”
How impactful will the new rules be?
Industry figures have broadly praised the adult website crackdown, with some even claiming that it is the biggest year for age verification in the UK since the intoxicating Liquor Act was passed in 1923.
“Ofcom’s announcement is a pivotal moment in the fight to make the internet a safer place, particularly for children,” Lina Ghazal, head of regulatory and public affairs at age verification firm Verifymy, told The Independent.
Others fear that the need to provide personal information to access porn sites risks compromising people’s privacy.
Similar to porn restrictions implemented in some parts of the US, web users will be able to bypass any age verification checks by using a virtual private network (VPN) that spoofs their device’s location.
Depending on the type of age verification methods required to meet the new rules, some porn sites may decide to block their services in the UK.
Pornhub’s parent company Aylo – which also owns RedTube, YouPorn and other popular sites – decided to block access to its websites in 16 US states after age restrictions were introduced.
The sites claimed that the laws requiring users to upload a government-approved ID violated user privacy and safety. The Independent has reached out to Aylo for comment on the latest Ofcom announcement.
