Pornography provider fined £1m by watchdog over weak age checks

A pornography company that runs 18 adult websites has been fined £1 million by watchdog Ofcom for not having strong enough age checks.

AVS Group Ltd has been hit with a fine, plus a further £50,000 for failing to respond to information requests.

It represents the third time that the internet and communications watchdog has fined a company in relation to the UK’s Online Safety Act, which came into force in July.

While AVS has implemented what it refers to as age verification, the regulator’s investigation did not deem it to be highly effective.

The group now has 72 hours to introduce age assurance that Ofcom will view as effective, or it faces a daily penalty of £1,000.

This comes on top of a £300 daily penalty until it responds to requests for information or for a maximum of 60 days.

Ofcom has opened investigations into 92 online services since the new rules were introduced.

Its probes are prioritising sites with millions of monthly UK visitors and, therefore, the level of harm that they pose.

Furthermore, Ofcom said one major social company, which it did not name, may face formal action if it does not improve its compliance procedures.

The Online Safety Act brought in a new set of laws aimed at protecting children and adults online from harmful content.

More than half of the top 100 most popular adult services in the UK have introduced age checks since July’s new rules, as well as social media platforms such as X, TikTok and Reddit, the regulator revealed.

Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s online safety group director, said: “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.”

Technology secretary Liz Kendall said: “Since the enforcement of the Online Safety Act, platforms have finally started taking responsibility for protecting children and removing illegal and hateful content.

“Ofcom has the Government’s full backing to use all its powers to ensure that services put users’ safety first.

“Keeping children safe online is this government’s and my personal priority.”

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