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.

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The new guidance does provide clarity to firms which have long awaited for Ofcom to set a clear path on the new string of internet safety regulations it will oversee.

The UK regulator published a list of potential technologies that platforms can employ to verify the ages of their users, from open banking to mobile network operate age checks, digital identity services, and email-based age estimation.

But privacy advocates are apprehensive about platforms getting more data from users in the form of these checks.

Silkie Carlo, CEO of privacy advocacy group Big Brother Watch, warned that these age checking methods “introduce additional risks to children and adults alike including security breaches, privacy intrusion, errors, digital exclusion and censorship.”