Overview
- AVS also received a £50,000 penalty for failing to answer information requests, with an additional £300 per day now accruing until it responds.
- If AVS misses the 5 p.m. GMT Dec. 6 deadline to deploy a highly effective system, Ofcom will levy £1,000 per day until March 16, 2026 or until compliance is verified.
- Ofcom found AVS’s photo-upload verification lacked liveness detection, creating a bypass that could allow children to gain access with an adult’s image.
- The operator runs 18 adult sites and is registered to a virtual mailbox in Belize, and Ofcom says enforcement options range from court orders to cutting payment providers and, ultimately, UK ISP blocking.
- Regulators report 92 active investigations and three providers fined to date, and they are tracking VPN usage after a mid‑2025 spike to assess circumvention of age checks.