Porn company fined £600,000 by Ofcom over age check failings

Source: BBC Technology

Ofcom has fined a porn company £600,000 for failing to introduce proper age‑verification measures on its websites. The media regulator said Youngtek Solutions Ltd, which runs four adult sites, did not have age checks to ensure UK visitors were over 18 and prevent children from accessing the content.

Details of the fine

Age verification failures

Ofcom noted that the company was not complying with its rules between July and September 2025. The regulator said the firm has since introduced verification measures, but the breach occurred during the specified period.

Additional penalty

The fine comprised:

• £500,000 for the lack of age checks, and
• £100,000 for not initially responding to Ofcom’s information requests.

Regulatory context

Since July 2025, platforms operating in the UK that allow pornography are required to have “highly effective” age checks in place under the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA).

Under the OSA, the regulator can fine firms up to £18 million or 10 % of their turnover (whichever is greater) and can seek a court order to block a site in the most serious cases.

George Lusty, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said:

“Adult sites must use robust age checks to protect children in the UK from porn online, and we’ve shown we will use the full extent of our enforcement powers to secure this outcome. Any company that fails to comply – or misses important deadlines when we demand information – can expect to pay the price.”

Other recent fines

Since the new law came into force, Ofcom has issued major fines to several adult websites for not having robust age checks:

• A £1 million fine to porn company AVS Group Ltd in December 2025 – source
• A £800,000 fine to Kick Online Entertainment SA in February 2025 for failing to introduce proper age verification measures between July and December 2025 – source
• Ofcom’s largest fine levied under the OSA to date – £1.35 million – in February 2026 to porn company 8579 LLC – source

Ofcom said both AVS Group and Kick Online Entertainment SA had since rolled out age checks on some of their sites.

Industry compliance

According to Ofcom, 77 of the top 100 pornography services in the UK have deployed age checks as of January.