FSC's Alison Boden Delivers Keynote at UK Age Assurance Regulator Event

FSC's Alison Boden Delivers Keynote at UK Age Assurance Regulator Event

LOS ANGELES — Free Speech Coalition (FSC) Executive Director Alison Boden delivered the keynote presentation at a recent meeting on age verification hosted by U.K. communications regulator Ofcom.

The first-of-its kind event was convened to engage industry stakeholders in a discussion of Ofcom’s implementation of the Online Safety Act (OSA), including the law's age assurance and illegal content requirements for adult content platforms.

The requirements are expected to take effect in the first quarter of 2025.

Boden’s keynote focused on the state-level age verification mandates being passed in the U.S., stressing the many reasons that they should not serve as a model for legislation in other states or countries.

“Setting aside the unconstitutionality of the US laws, Boden highlighted the bizarre ways content is defined, patchwork of age verification mechanisms prescribed, and disproportionate enforcement methods authorized by the 19 state age verification statutes in the US,” FSC explained through a statement.

Boden also outlined the barriers making it a challenge for companies to comply with these laws, including “the enormous cost of implementing age verification services and the near-total refusal of consumers to age-verify to access adult content,” the statement added.

The FSC director offered four suggestions for regulators: make compliance requirements extremely clear and realistic for websites, make efforts to improve consumer trust in age assurance, take action to limit any competitive advantage of noncompliance, and reduce the financial burden on businesses.

“If regulators want to keep minors from accessing age-inappropriate material, it’s essential that our industry be at the table,” Boden said. “Regulations that are unevenly applied, that discourage compliance and are rejected by consumers, will inevitably fail. I’m thankful to Ofcom for inviting me, and to those in our industry who joined me to help educate the regulators.”

The FSC statement added that the group is pleased that, unlike most policymakers, Ofcom is making "a concerted effort" to engage with and understand the concerns of the adult industry.

“We hope that this will result in a workable policy for adult content websites and encourage all FSC members to reach out to Ofcom with feedback on how the requirements will affect their businesses,” the statement noted.

Defining 'Pornographic Content' Still Vexing

In March, FSC submitted a detailed critique of the age assurance guidance proposed by Ofcom under the OSA. That guidance requires sites to ensure that children cannot “normally encounter” pornographic content, by implementing some form of age assurance technology. 

At the event, the FSC statement reports, attendees worked in small groups to provide feedback on Ofcom’s definition of “pornographic” content, which is vaguely defined in the OSA as “content of such a nature that it is reasonable to assume that it was produced solely or principally for the purpose of sexual arousal.”

“Ofcom’s attempt to clarify what content is and is not ‘pornographic’ seemed complicated and vastly over-inclusive to many of the attendees, who encouraged the regulator to narrow and simplify their definition,” the FSC reported.

In her closing remarks, Ofcom's online safety supervision director announced that the agency will launch an awareness campaign in the fall to inform the industry about adult companies' obligations under the OSA.

Stakeholders are encouraged to visit Ofcom.org.uk for more information on that initiative.

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Florida AG Sues EU-Based Adult Companies for Failing to Age-Verify Users

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit Monday with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida against five EU-based adult companies for allegedly failing to require age verification before allowing access to adult content.

SkyPrivate Launches 'Telegram Pay-Per-Minute' Feature

SkyPrivate has launched a new pay-per-minute (PPM) private show option on Telegram.

Pineapple Support to Host 'Money and Mental Health' Online Event

Pineapple Support is hosting a free, online event to help performers balance financial wellbeing with mental health, Aug. 18-19.

Arcom Warns 5 Adult Sites Over Age Verification

French media regulator Arcom has sent enforcement notices to the operators of five adult websites that the agency says have failed to implement age verification as required under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

MojoHost Debuts NVIDIA Blackwell-Powered Hosting

MojoHost has announced the launch of NVIDIA Blackwell-powered hosting featuring RTX 6000 Pro MaxQ GPUs.

FSC: Identity Theft Targeting Adult Performers

The Free Speech Coalition has put out an alert warning of an individual found to be targeting adult performers for identity theft.

Assylum.com Implements New Age Verification System

Assylum.com has introduced an age verification system across its member sites.

European Commission to Assess Pornhub, XVideos, XNXX Compliance With Digital Services Act

The European Commission plans to conduct a study to determine how well adult sites Pornhub, XVideos and XNXX are addressing illegal content and other potential harms under the EU’s Digital Services Act.

German Higher Court Upholds Ban on PornHub, YouPorn

The Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate on Thursday upheld a “network ban” on Aylo-owned adult sites Pornhub and YouPorn for failing to comply with German age verification regulations.

Alabama Notifying Adult Sites of New Tax Set to Take Effect Sept. 1

The Alabama Department of Revenue has begun sending notices to adult site operators about a new 10% tax on their revenues, set to be enforced starting Sept. 1.

Show More