Ofcom launches age-check investigations into at least 22 more pornography sites

Ofcom has launched investigations into at least 22 more pornography sites over new age-check requirements under the UK’s Online Safety Act, the regulator said.

Ofcom said it had opened formal investigations into whether Cyberitic, LLC, Web Prime Inc, Youngtek Solutions Ltd, ZD Media s.r.o and the provider of xgroovy had highly effective age checks in place to protect children from encountering pornography across the 22 sites they run.

Collectively, these sites have over eight million unique monthly UK visitors, the regulator said.

Any further sites identified as being run by these companies would be added to the investigations.

New online safety protections for children came into force on July 25.

Since that date, so-called “risky” sites and apps have been expected to use what the regulator has described as highly effective age checks to identify which users are children and subsequently prevent them from accessing pornography, as well as other harmful content including self-harm, suicide, eating disorders and extreme violence.

Ofcom said it had prioritised the latest investigations based on the risk of harm the sites posed, including where there had been significant increases in their user numbers since the July 25 deadline.

Ofcom has already announced investigations into 47 other sites and apps following the introduction of the protections.

Since July 25, it had been checking compliance, confirming that all the top 10 most-visited sites – as well as many smaller ones – had introduced age checks for UK users.

In a statement, Ofcom said: “We will provide updates on these investigations as soon as possible.

“Where we identify compliance failures, we can require platforms to take specific steps to come into compliance. We can also impose fines of up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.

“Where appropriate, in the most serious cases, we can seek a court order for ‘business disruption measures’, such as requiring payment providers or advertisers to withdraw their services from a platform, or requiring Internet Service Providers to block access to a site in the UK.”