Regulator Ofcom has imposed a £1 million fine on the owner of the network of adult websites AVS Group for failing to implement reliable age verification for users. A further £50,000 was added to that sum because the company did not respond to the regulator’s requests.
Fine and requirements
The company was ordered to remedy the shortcomings within 72 hours; if it fails to do so, a daily fine of £1,000 will apply. From the summer of 2025, strict rules for adult sites will be in force in the UK: platforms must implement real methods of age verification — for example, via a bank card, a photo of a document, or a selfie with ID. However, users often circumvent these requirements using VPNs or forged documents, sometimes generated by artificial intelligence.
Sanctions and international examples
This is the third fine imposed under the new Online Safety Act, aimed at protecting minors from harmful content. In October another platform was fined £20,000 for refusing to provide information to the regulator. Similar age-verification rules are in effect or being introduced in the US, France, Italy, China and Australia.
In July President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to a petition on the decriminalisation of pornography in Ukraine. Separately, the platform OnlyFans has paid content creators about $25 billion since 2016.
