FSC Addresses UK Age Verification Guidelines

FSC Addresses UK Age Verification Guidelines

LOS ANGELES — The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has published an article offering guidance on the U.K.'s Online Safety Act and the various guidelines put forward by the country's telecommunications regulator Ofcom.

The article follows:

The United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act (OSA) went into effect earlier this year, which (among many other things) requires websites (or “services”) that provide adult content to implement age verification for traffic coming from the UK. Ofcom, the regulator charged with enforcing the OSA, has put out a dizzying array of guidance in recent months. This article aims to simplify what adult sites need to know, but it does not represent legal advice – always speak with your legal advisors when deciding how to comply with laws and regulations!

Part 3 or Part 5?

Very long story short, your site’s functionality determines whether it is covered under Part 3 or 5 of the OSA. At the moment, the biggest practical difference between being covered by one part or the other is the enforcement deadline for incorporating age verification on your site.

Part 3 of the OSA covers “user-to-user” (U2U) services that allow users to interact with each other, including by uploading content or messaging one another, as well as search engines. Examples of U2U services likely* include tube sites, cams, and fan platforms. These services are expected to implement age verification by July 25, 2025, as Ofcom explained in a letter in April.

Part 5 covers any other site that displays or publishes adult content. This includes paysites; sites that sell content downloads, rentals, and streams; and other types of adult content services. For simplicity, we'll refer to these as porn sites in this article.

Porn sites were expected to implement age verification in January of 2025. Many have already received letters from Ofcom requesting information about how they plan to comply. Below, we’ll cover the basic requirements for adult websites regulated by the OSA.

Age Verification Requirement

The law requires that all sites with pornographic content implement "highly effective age assurance." In contrast with U.S. laws, Ofcom is not concerned with the type of age verification used, provided that it meets technical criteria that adult websites are not generally in a position to evaluate.

Thankfully, they have also published a list of methods they consider highly effective:

  • Photo-identification (photo-ID) matching
  • Facial age estimation
  • Mobile-network operator (MNO) age checks
  • Credit card checks (only adults may have a credit card in the UK)
  • Open banking
  • Digital identity services
  • Email-based age estimation

The methods that they explicitly prohibit are:

  • Self-declaration that a user is an adult
  • Entering a user's birth date without additional verification
  • Debit cards and other payment methods that are available to minors
  • Simply including text on the website or in the terms of service that says the site is only for adults.

For more in-depth information about "highly effective age assurance," please consult Ofcom's resources:

Record-Keeping Requirements

Of course, there are different record-keeping requirements for U2U services and porn sites.

Free Speech Coalition is creating a template to help porn sites comply with this requirement. It will be shared once Ofcom has responded to our questions about the exact information and level of detail needed. Until then, please refer to Ofcom's guidance on keeping records to demonstrate compliance with the OSA.

U2U services are expected to conduct a Children's Access Assessment at least once a year. They helpfully provide a template that you can use for this purpose.

Further reading:

Letters from Ofcom

Ofcom has been sending out letters to porn sites for several months. They request contact information for the company's OSA compliance point person and an explanation of the company's plans for implementing age verification. Companies that do not respond or mistakenly provide incorrect information are subject to extremely severe penalties, so it's important to confer with trusted advisors when sharing information with Ofcom (or any regulator)!

If you have questions for Ofcom that you would rather not ask directly, drop us a line. FSC is happy to ask them anonymously on your behalf and communicate any answers they provide.

* Ofcom has not explicitly spelled this out. They have only said that they "anticipate the types of service covered by [Part 5] will include studios and paysites."

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