All porn sites must 'robustly' verify UK user ages by July

[knightofthegarter]

No matter the good intentions of sites trying to comply with a stupid law, I do not believe for a solitary second that the government does not have ways of accessing the information that goes through the verification sites. I do not doubt for one moment that the government is processing and storing every bit of data as it happens. Utterly terrifying and the law will not achieve its stated purposes but then that is not why it was introduced.

[Fabtime]

ID cards introduction... by the back door.
Nothing at all to do with protecting minors..IF that were the case, they would stop the boats.

[BillT]

ID cards introduction... by the back door.
Nothing at all to do with protecting minors..IF that were the case, they would stop the boats.

Pretty much.

Government "Invents problem" then "boiling frogs" the situation. Cynically using either illegal migration or a false claim that all 8year olds are watching extreme violent porn online, until apparently we'll all be demanding digital ID cards.

The irony of Labour proudly trumpeting giving kids of 16 the vote but they wont allow them to see naked people or read twitter or a lot of social media!

Nothing this government has done over the last 12 months has had the interests of the UK citizens at heart.



Back on topic. How are the various escort agencies affected by this? Ive checked a few this morning and they all seem unaffected. To be fair, most of those ladies are wearing expensive underwear and are not full on legs wide open shots. But the example shots AW are banning/hiding are not showing anything more extreme than the average rap video or the beach frankly. No genitals or nipples on display at all!

Pics not allowed because they cause "sexual arousal". Stripper poles are not allowed because of "sexual context".

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[myothernameis]

If you go to google and search any sex term like, wet pussy, on google it brings up uncensored pictures.  Some of these belong to porn sites, like redtube, but once you click onto the site, it requires age verification

But if you search wet pussy jpg, this search brings to to jpg galleries, but a few of the sites, no age verification is required.   Now wonder how long this can go on, till there brought in line

[knightofthegarter]

Some of the censorship is ludicrous. There are images on AW being censored because a girl has a bare lower leg visible in an evening dress ! Are we going to have modesty police in the streets now to regulate what women wear and protect us innocent menfolk from having our eyes wandering ? There are entire sections of text being censored which have no erotic content whatsoever, a girl talking about her personality or what not. At the same time there are some images where a girl has only tiny bits of fabric covering tits and pussy which are visible but mostly it is the most over the top censorship I have ever seen. Most pop music videos would have to be censored entirely if they were classed as adult sites.

[lostandfound]

Some of the censorship is ludicrous. There are images on AW being censored because a girl has a bare lower leg visible in an evening dress ! Are we going to have modesty police in the streets now to regulate what women wear and protect us innocent menfolk from having our eyes wandering ? There are entire sections of text being censored which have no erotic content whatsoever, a girl talking about her personality or what not. At the same time there are some images where a girl has only tiny bits of fabric covering tits and pussy which are visible but mostly it is the most over the top censorship I have ever seen. Most pop music videos would have to be censored entirely if they were classed as adult sites.

Done by AI most likely - not very well - but a strategy to cope with volume.

[knightofthegarter]

Done by AI most likely - not very well - but a strategy to cope with volume.

Probably and my guess is that this is why the occasional image of a more scantily clad woman on AW is avoiding the censor. However the large majority of non nude pics there are being censored and also at similar sites from what I've read. This can't be an accident or just down to AI issues.

[Steve2]

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[globewindsailor]

X blocked a video on a sports thread I follow which is daft. I managed to download it and it's a montage of the sport and presenters talking. Early days eh.

[advent2016]

No matter the good intentions of sites trying to comply with a stupid law, I do not believe for a solitary second that the government does not have ways of accessing the information that goes through the verification sites. I do not doubt for one moment that the government is processing and storing every bit of data as it happens. Utterly terrifying and the law will not achieve its stated purposes but then that is not why it was introduced.

Do you hear voices in your head?
I expect the government can probably work out if you are over 18 numerous other ways already; National Insurance number, NHS number, driving licence (if you're a driver), passport data if you travel, HMRC data, if you possess a credit card.

As for them cracking it, TLS 1.3 is virtually uncrackable and estimated to take millions of years

[puntingking]

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I just came back from a temp ban so not sure if this have already been said -
But there are still lots of porn websites who have no age verification method at all so are not applying the law to their website.
One of them is a very extreme porn site that is much worst (if under 18 are in the know) than porn hub.

[knightofthegarter]

Do you hear voices in your head?
I expect the government can probably work out if you are over 18 numerous other ways already; National Insurance number, NHS number, driving licence (if you're a driver), passport data if you travel, HMRC data, if you possess a credit card.

As for them cracking it, TLS 1.3 is virtually uncrackable and estimated to take millions of years

Funnily enough, when online I haven't been submitting my NI number, NHS number, driving license details, or passport details every time I visit an adult site. Nor do I question the mental health of people who have different views to me. I stand by my comments. It is not only adult sites that have been finding themselves behind an age verification wall but also content on Spotify, and even current affairs and political videos, which is concerning for freedom of expression and political discourse. The government doesn't necessarily need to crack anything to access the data going through the age verification sites, although I've lost count of the number of unhackable systems that have been hacked into. Anyway, here is a representative summary of how a number of mainstream AI platforms described the situation re the act "The UK government is not explicitly stating they cannot access age verification data, but they are emphasizing that age verification methods used for compliance with the Online Safety Act are designed to avoid storing or collecting unnecessary personal data". Crucially with regards to storage, we only have vague terms such as "avoid" and "unnecessary", which are very elastic terms for politicians. If they really have no possible way to access the data, then why were they so invested in passing the legislation, which will do something close to nothing in terms of preventing under 18s accessing adult content but makes internet usage a significantly more intrusive process. If you think this is all great and that you trust the government and every single government that will follow after, then good for you but the scope of this act goes much further than the stated purpose

[advent2016]

The act - you should give it a read.
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Content that is harmful to children

Protecting children is at the heart of the Online Safety Act. Although some content is not illegal, it could be harmful or age-inappropriate for children and platforms need to protect children from it.

Note This isn't meant to be taken as a political posting, I've only just realized that the post I'm replying to talks about government etc.

[MrMohican]

Section 8.2 here covers what Ofcom consider and don't consider to be porn. This is the consultation document though, not the final guidelines, but I doubt it changed much.

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God, this so reminds me of this Bill Hicks sketch. It's like no one has learned ANYTHING. So we have a new puritanical law that is so ill defined and badly implemented tons of people - kids included will find ways around it but in the meantime all kinds of people will get caught up in the dragnet - fined or shut down. Thats without all the dangers the age verification bollocks is going to pose people for blackmail/extortion. You just KNOW the next data theft debacle is going to be from some pornography provider being hacked. I fucking hate all this nanny state bullshit.
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[Watts.E.Dunn]

One simple thing could be done for age verification in that all UKP members be given free access,  as most all of us have one bloody foot in the grave!...

[puntingking]

One simple thing could be done for age verification in that all UKP members be given free access,  as most all of us have one bloody foot in the grave!...

speak for yourself, I am still classified as young by society standards. 

[Watts.E.Dunn]

Society!?, theres  no such thing! MrsTatcher said so!..

[puntingking]

Porn company fined  over inadequate age checks

Ofcom has fined a porn company for failing to put in place sufficiently robust age checks - the biggest penalty it has imposed so far under the Online Safety Act.[/b]
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[bigden40]

Society!?, theres  no such thing! MrsTatcher said so!..

Indeed, she made a good point.  The full quote is actually quite relevant to the nanny legislation that is the subject of this thread.

“I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand ‘I have a problem, it is the Government’s job to cope with it!’ or ‘I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!’ ‘I am homeless, the Government must house me!’ and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first.”

[bigden40]

Porn company fined  over inadequate age checks

Ofcom has fined a porn company for failing to put in place sufficiently robust age checks - the biggest penalty it has imposed so far under the Online Safety Act.[/b]
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I suspect that the Belize company that runs those sites may just tell OFCOM to go fuck themselves. 

[whaleears]

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Pornhub has announced it will restrict access to its website in the UK from next month, blaming the tougher age checks which have been introduced for explicit sites.

From 2 February, only people who have previously made a Pornhub account will be able to access its content.

[whaleears]

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Ofcom has fined a porn company £1.35m for failing to introduce proper age verification measures on its websites.

The media regulator said 8579 LLC's sites did not have "highly effective" methods to check UK visitors were over 18 and prevent children accessing the content.

[puntingking]

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These websites are:
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[puntingking]

Based on July 2025 Ofcom investigations regarding Online Safety Act compliance, 8579 LLC operates several adult websites focusing on pornography. The primary websites identified in the investigation for failing to implement adequate age verification measures are:

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These sites are being investigated for failing to prevent under 18s from accessing explicit content, according to Ofcom.