OFCOM has launched an investigation into at least 22 porn websites over concerns about the age checks they have in place.
Adult platforms have been forced to adopt stricter age verification rules in the UK since the end of July, which require users to share their ID or a selfie to access them.
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Sites that fail to comply with the Online Safety Act risk being slapped with hefty fines and could even be blocked from the UK.
The communications regulator is responsible for checking companies abide by the law, which is designed to protect children from easily stumbling across inappropriate content online.
Today Ofcom bosses announced an investigation into five companies that are known to collectively run at least 22 porn sites.
It’s estimated that the group receive some eight million visitors from the UK every month.
The watchdog said the sites face a “prioritised” probe because of the risk of harm they pose and their user huge numbers.
“We are now gathering and analysing evidence to determine whether any contraventions have occurred,” Ofcom said.
“If our assessment indicates compliance failures, we will issue provisional notices of contravention to providers, who can then make representations on our findings, before we make our final decisions.”
The companies include Cyberitic, LLC, Web Prime Inc, Youngtek Solutions Ltd and ZD Media s.r.o.
Some 47 sites are already being investigated by Ofcom over similar concerns.
Bosses have also revealed that they’re expanding their probe into two companies, 8579 LLC and Itai Tech, over whether they have failed to respond adequately to Ofcom’s requests for information.
The new law triggered a surge in VPN downloads as some try to get around the block.
VPNs – which are used as legal privacy tools to disguise a person’s location – are still in the top download charts.
The regulator has admitted that there’s no way to stop people from using VPNs.
THE SHOCKING STATS
Latest figures show the scale of adult content consumption online…
Ofcom stats:
- Around 8% children aged 8-14 in the UK visited an online porn site or app in a month.
- 15% of 13–14-year-olds accessed online porn in a month.
- Boys aged 13-14 are the most likely to visit a porn service, significantly more than girls the same age (19% vs 11%).
- Our research tells us that around three in ten (29%) or 13.8m UK adults use porn online.
- Pornhub is the most used site in the UK – Ofcom research says 18% (8.4m) visited it in one month.
Children’s Commissioner stats:
Of the 64% who said that they had ever seen online pornography:
- The average age at which children first see pornography is 13. By age nine, 10% had seen pornography, 27% had seen it by age 11 and half of children who had seen pornography had seen it by age 13.
- We also find that young people are frequently exposed to violent pornography, depicting coercive, degrading or pain-inducing sex acts; 79% had encountered violent pornography before the age of 18.
- Pornography is not confined to dedicated adult sites. We found that Twitter was the online platform where young people were most likely to have seen pornography.
Image credit: Getty / The Sun
