Pornography websites are flouting new online safety laws for children — despite the threat of being hit with millions in fines.
As of Friday, all platforms streaming adult material in the UK are legally required to implement "highly effective" methods to verify the age of users.
The new rules under the Online Safety Act aims to protect Under-18s from viewing harmful content, which includes sexually explicit posts.
Companies that ignore the changes, which are being enforced by Ofcom, could be fined up to £18 million, or 10% of worldwide revenue.
But at least 30 sites were still showing pornographic material without asking viewers for proof of age hours after the new rules came into force, The Standard understands.
Some websites are following the strict guidelines. Reddit has already adhered to “regulator approved age assurance methods” to prevent those under the age of 18 from accessing “certain mature content”.
Pornhub — the world’s biggest porn site, which is accessed by approximately 15 million people in the UK — has introduced credit card and ID checks to ensure account holders are old enough.
Platforms are also required by the new regulations to make sure age verification procedures do not jeopardise their privacy or deny people access to lawful content.
xHamster — an adult video sharing website — has partnered with London-based software firm Yoti to vet its visitors securely and privately.
Yoti’s facial recognition technology accurately estimates a person's age based on a selfie, which then creates a digital identity wallet for future use.
An Ofcom spokesman said: “We will be actively checking platforms' compliance with these new duties — including how effective any measures are that they introduce — and companies that fall short should expect to face enforcement.”
According to new research by Ofcom, 8% of eight to 14-year-olds in the UK visited a porn site in one month.
Ofcom said its safety codes also demand that algorithms "must be tamed and configured for children so that the most harmful material is blocked".
Chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said: "Prioritising clicks and engagement over children's online safety will no longer be tolerated in the UK.
"Our message to tech firms is clear: comply with age checks and other protection measures set out in our codes, or face the consequences of enforcement action from Ofcom."
Our message to tech firms is clear: comply with age checks... or face the consequences
The regulator’s group director of online saftey, Oliver Griffiths, added: “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. Now, change is happening.”
However, some experts remain sceptical about the effectiveness of age checks and how easy it may be for children to circumvent them.
The Molly Rose Foundation, founded by bereaved father Ian Russell after his 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life in 2017 having witnessed harmful content on social media, said the changes lack ambition and accountability and warned that big tech will have taken note.
He said: “This should be a watershed moment for young people but instead we've been let down by a regulator that has chosen to prioritise the business needs of big tech over children's safety. We now need a clear reset and leadership from the Prime Minister. That means nothing less than a new Online Safety Act that fixes this broken regime and firmly puts the balance back in favour of children."
