Major pornography sites to introduce 'robust' age verification for UK users

Major pornography sites including Pornhub and Redtube will introduce "highly effective age checks" from the 25 July in the UK for the first time.

New Ofcom rules designed to keep children from seeing harmful content online come into force next month, with "robust" age checks a "cornerstone" of the regulations, according to the communications regulator Ofcom.

Under the Online Safety Act, age verification and age estimation must be "highly effective" at correctly determining whether a user is under 18 for sites hosting harmful content.

Highly effective age checks include credit card checks, open banking or facial age estimation.

According to new research by the regulator, 8% of eight to 14-year-olds in the UK visited a pornography site in one month with 19% of boys aged 13 and 14 visiting the sites. Around 11% of girls the same age visited pornography sites in one month.

As part of the new rules, platforms must also ensure age verification measures don't exclude adults from accessing legal content or compromise their privacy.

Ofcom said the other sites that have confirmed they will bring in the new age checks represent a broad range of pornography services accessed in the UK.

"Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren't suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling. But for too long children have been only a click away from harmful pornography online," said Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom's group director of online safety.

"Now, change is happening. These age checks will bring pornography into line with how we treat adult services in the real world, without compromising access and privacy for over-18s."

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), the UK authority for finding and removing child sexual abuse imagery from the internet, called the announcement a "vital step" and said it welcomes platforms doing "all they can" to comply with the new rules.

"Exposure to pornography at an inappropriately early age can normalise harmful sexual behaviours, with the availability of violent pornography by children and young adults increasingly being linked to the growing rates of sexual violence against girls and young women," said Derek Ray-Hill, interim chief executive of the IWF.

"It can leave children more vulnerable to grooming and predators - and we must be vigilant."

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In France, pornography operators including Pornhub recently "went dark" in protest against new age verification rules similar to those required in the UK.

"I can confirm that Aylo has made the difficult decision to suspend access to its user-uploaded platforms in France. We will be using our platforms to directly address the French public tomorrow," a spokesperson for Pornhub said on 3 June.

"If Aylo would rather leave France than apply our laws, they are free to do so," Clara Chappaz, France's junior minister for artificial intelligence and digital technology, wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Sky News has contacted Pornhub and Redtube for comment.

Privacy concerns

Privacy concerns have long swirled around plans like this, with some worried that data collected by pornography sites could be used to identify them.

However, Tony Allen, the chief executive of the Age Check Certification Scheme, which oversees age-checking tools around the world, said those fears have been addressed by the industry.

"That was probably a fair concern five or 10 years ago. But obviously, the industry's response to that is, 'No, we need to come up with a way we can do that in a privacy-preserving way'. And they have," he told Sky News.

The sites are regulated by the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK and will be held to the same data privacy standards as other businesses.

According to the NSPCC, effective age checks can play a "vital role" in protecting children.

"Children and young people deserve to navigate the online world safely," Rani Govender, policy manager for child safety online at the NSPCC, told Sky News.

"It is time tech companies take responsibility for ensuring children have safe, age-appropriate experiences online, and we welcome the progress that Ofcom are making in this space."

The dark web

However, one legal expert told Sky News the age checks may not address the core problem, and could end up pushing young people to the unregulated dark web.

"I have cases where clients as young as 14 access the dark web," said Marcus Johnstone from PCD Solicitors. He specialises in criminal defence representation for people accused of sexual offences.

"In one case, my client, aged 15, accessed the dark web to buy drugs but also then found access to extreme illegal pornography.

"As a society, we must accept that children, although illegal, are having sex at a younger age. In my opinion it will be impossible to stop them viewing porn sites.

"Any teenager with a phone can now watch and read content that is both illegal and heinous, and is unregulated by any company or agency.

"It is the dark web that is the greatest menace to our society and is a gateway to a world of abuse, exploitation and radicalisation. This is where better policing is required."

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