Providers of online pornography are rolling out age assurance across thousands of sites, in response to Ofcom’s enforcement programme in this area, according to the regulator.

Earlier this year, Ofcom wrote to hundreds of providers, collectively covering thousands of sites that publish their own pornographic content, informing them of their new obligations under Part 5 of the Online Safety Act to implement highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing this material.

Ofcom states that it’s had ‘positive engagement from across the sector and a number of providers have implemented highly effective age assurance in response to our enforcement programme.’ Further, the regulator says that its currently reviewing compliance plans and implementation timescales for other services in scope of these duties.

Ofcom is also assessing the age assurance measures of providers who have not responded, and a number of services have been referred to our enforcement team, who will consider in the coming weeks whether formal enforcement action is appropriate.

By July 2025, all services that allow pornography – including sites that allow user-generated pornographic content (‘Part 3 services’) – will need to have highly effective age-checks in place to protect children from accessing it.

Quick Win for the Online Satefy Act

Back in January, Ofcom announced that websites that provide a platform to any pornographic material, including social media platforms, will now be tasked will issuing “robust” age verification measures as Ofcom issues guidance laid out in the Online Safety Act.

The new regulation, which will put the onus on platforms to check for age verification potentially in the form of photo ID matches or credit card checks, aims to prevent children from viewing pornographic material online.

“For too long, many online services which allow porn and other harmful material have ignored the fact that children are accessing their services”, said Ofcom head Melanie Dawes. “Today, this starts to change.”

Research from the internet watchdog found that the average child will see porn at the age of 13, with some being exposed to the material even earlier.

The Children’s Commissioner estimated that one in ten UK children see pornography by age nine, due to the material being so readily available and easy to access.

Most adult websites have lacklustre age checks, asking prospective users to merely click a box to confirm that they are 18 years or older.

New age checks may require photo ID matches, credit card checks, or even facial age estimation techniques.

Ofcom has explicitly come down on current pornography sites main form of age verification, saying that “self-declaration of age” is not considered an effective enough method for age checks.