OnlyFans owner fined £1m by Ofcom in age verification dispute  – UKTN

The parent company of OnlyFans has been handed a £1.05m fine for failing to accurately respond to requests for information about its age assurance measures. 

Fenix International, which owns the platform known for hosting explicit content, was approached by Ofcom on two occasions in 2022 and 2023 with requests for information on how it was implementing age verification checks, particularly through facial age estimation technology. 

The platform uses identity verification technology provided by third parties including Ondato and Yoti. 

Users looking to open accounts are required to submit a video of themselves that is analysed to generate an estimated age. The platform sets a “challenge age” and if the estimation is above that, the applicant may proceed, if not then they must provide an alternative proof of age. 

The OnlyFans owner provided a submission to Ofcom claiming this age was 23 but last year it was revealed that the system was operating with a challenge age of 20. Fenix raised the age to 23 on 16 January and then lowered it to 21 three days later. 

After an investigation, Ofcom concluded that Fenix “contravened its duties to provide accurate and complete information to Ofcom in response to two statutory information requests”. 

Among the regulator’s primary issues was that it took over 16 months for the company to discover it had provided inaccurate information, resulting in the fine. 

“When we use our statutory powers to request information from platforms, they are required, by law, to ensure it is complete, accurate and delivered to us on time,” said Suzanne Cater, Ofcom’s enforcement director. 

“Receiving accurate and complete information is fundamental for Ofcom to do its job as a regulator and to understand and monitor how platforms are operating. We will hold platforms to high standards and will not hesitate to take enforcement action where we find failings.” 

The fine is unlikely to hurt the company too much, having pulled in revenue of £1.3bn in its most recent accounts in 2023.

Though the ruling from Ofcom was made following the enforcement of the Online Safety Act, this particular fine was given using powers under regulations that predate it. 

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