From tomorrow, websites operating in the UK with pornographic content must “robustly” age-check users.
Adults wanting to access explicit material should experience a significant change in how they use the internet – while websites that ignore the new laws could be fined up to £18m, or 10% of worldwide revenue.
Ofcom, which estimates about 14 million people watch online pornography in the UK, says tougher age checks will make it harder for children to stumble across harmful material online.
But are the new rules, which are set out in the Online Safety Act watertight, or will people be able to find ways around them?
Ofcom, the media regulator, has set out a number of ways websites can check the age of users, including through credit card checks, photo ID matching and estimating age using a selfie.
Whatever format platforms choose, they must be “technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair”. Some sites that host sexually explicit content have already committed to introducing age checks.But Ofcom says they must also take action over methods people might use to get around checks.
