Ofcom has today fined pornography provider, First Time Videos LLC, £80,000 for not having age checks in place.
Robust age checks are a cornerstone of the Online Safety Act. Sites that host pornographic material must use ‘highly effective’ age checks to determine whether a particular user is over 18, in order to prevent children from readily accessing that content.
Our investigation found that First Time Videos LLC failed to comply with these duties. As a result, Ofcom has imposed a financial penalty of £80,000, which will be passed on to HM Treasury.
In reaching the level of fine, we take into account the size and turnover of the service to ensure the overall amount of the penalty is appropriate and proportionate.
George Lusty, Director of Enforcement at Ofcom, said: “Age checks are not optional, and are a cornerstone of our laws to protect children from harmful content, including pornography. We want to send a clear message to the industry that any company which fails to comply can expect to face similar enforcement action.”
Additionally, we have set out our provisional view that we have reasonable grounds to believe that the provider of xgroovy.com has failed to comply with its duties to introduce highly effective age checks under the Online Safety Act.
Separately ,we have also expanded our existing investigation into Sun Social Media Inc. to include a further adult site operated by the company.