Overview

• From July 25, the Online Safety Act requires adult and high-risk platforms to implement seven regulator-approved methods of highly effective age verification.
• Ofcom is monitoring compliance and can fine noncompliant services up to £18 million or 10% of global turnover, and pursue court orders to block persistent offenders.
• Leading porn sites like Pornhub, YouPorn and OnlyFans, along with social media and messaging platforms including Reddit, X, Discord, Bluesky and Grindr, have activated the approved checks.
• Hours after enforcement began, at least 30 adult sites still lacked any verification checks and searches for VPNs to circumvent the rules rose by more than 700%.
• Child safety groups and privacy advocates caution that users may migrate to unregulated or private channels, highlighting tensions between protection measures and data security.