Porn site fined £1m over age checks has never responded to Ofcom

Porn site fined £1m over age checks has never responded to Ofcom

2 hours ago Share Save Tom Singleton , Technology reporter and Laura Cress , Technology reporter Share Save

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Ofcom has told the BBC it has never heard from a porn company it has fined £1m for failing to comply with the UK Online Safety Act. It said it had been emailing AVS Group Ltd since it launched its investigation in July, but had not had a response at any point - so the firm had been fined an extra £50,000. The Act makes it a legal requirement for websites that host pornographic material to put in place what the regulator determines to be "highly effective age assurance" to prevent children from being able to easily access explicit content. Ofcom said AVS must now implement highly effective age assurance within 72 hours or face an additional penalty of £1,000 a day.

In addition to the AVS fine, Ofcom also announced that one "major social media company" was going through compliance remediation with its enforcement team. The regulator has not named the platform but says there may be formal action if it does not see sufficient improvement soon. Ofcom said the fine showed the "tide on online safety" was beginning to turn. "This year has seen important changes for people, with new measures across many sites and apps now better protecting children from harmful content," said Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom's online safety group director. "But we need to see much more from tech companies next year and we'll use our full powers if they fall short," he added. Ofcom has already started issuing fines to some companies for not implementing proper age verification, including deepfake "nudify" applications. However, online message board 4Chan has so far refused to comply with a £20,000 fine issued by Ofcom over the summer.