Porn company fined £1.35m by Ofcom over age check failings

Source: BBC Technology

Ofcom fines porn company £1.35 million for age‑check failings

Ofcom has fined 8579 LLC £1.35 million for failing to introduce proper age‑verification measures on its websites. The media regulator said the company’s sites did not have “highly effective” methods to check that UK visitors were over 18 and to prevent children from accessing the content.

The fine – Ofcom’s largest levied under the Online Safety Act (OSA) so far – comes after it began probing the firm “within days” of age‑check rules taking effect in July 2025. 8579 LLC has also been fined a further £50,000 for not responding to Ofcom’s information requests.

According to Ofcom, the company failed to implement highly effective age checks on most of its porn sites between 25 July and at least 19 November 2025.

Additional penalties and compliance requirements

• 8579 LLC must implement robust methods to check UK visitors are over 18 on one remaining site before 17:00 GMT on Monday, or face an additional £1,000 daily penalty.
• The regulator is also requiring the company to provide a complete list of all sites it operates. Failure to comply could trigger a further daily fine of £250.

Statements from Ofcom

George Lusty, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said it had “been clear” that adult sites needed to deploy robust age checks to protect children in the UK from seeing porn.

“Those that fail to do this – or ignore legally binding requests from us – should expect to face fines,” he added.

Company response

Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, said the OSA had “not achieved its goal of protecting minors” and argued that the law had “diverted traffic to darker, unregulated corners of the internet”.

Legal context

The Online Safety Act is a set of laws and duties that online platforms must follow, implemented and enforced by Ofcom. Under its Children’s Codes, platforms must also prevent young people from encountering harmful content relating to suicide, self‑harm, eating disorders, and pornography.

For more information on previous fines and investigations, see Ofcom’s earlier decisions: BBC article on fines.