LONDON — A number of adult content providers operating in the U.K. have confirmed that they plan to introduce age checks in compliance with the Online Safety Act by the July 25 deadline, according to U.K. media regulator Ofcom.
As XBIZ reported on Wednesday, Aylo — which owns various adult properties including Pornhub, YouPorn and Redtube — has already announced plans to introduce age assurance methods that satisfy the new rules.
According to Ofcom, other services now committed to regulatory compliance include BoyfriendTV, Cam4, FrolicMe, inxxx, Jerkmate, LiveHDCams, MyDirtyHobby, Streamate, Stripchat and Tube8.
“The services named today have indicated that they plan to deploy a type of age assurance solution which Ofcom said could be capable of being highly effective in our guidance,” the Ofcom statement reads. “The way in which these solutions are implemented in practice will be the ultimate test of whether it is compliant with the OSA.”
Andra Chirnogeanu, Director of Business Development for Cam4, told XBIZ that the platform plans to balance protecting minors with ensuring user privacy.
"By complying with Ofcom and the UK’s Online Safety Act, Cam4 isn’t just meeting regulatory requirements — we’re standing by what we believe is right: protecting minors, building user trust and aligning digital safety with real-world standards," Chirnogeanu said. "Starting 25 July, U.K. adults can continue to enjoy Cam4 knowing we’ve strengthened both privacy and responsibility at every level of access."
At the same time, Chirnogeanu added, Cam4 believes that repeatedly asking users to share sensitive personal information poses "a significant and unacceptable security risk."
"When platforms like ours are required to collect and store government IDs or other private data, the risk of a breach — and the potential harm to users — rises dramatically," she cautioned. "That’s why Cam4 supports age verification at the device or browser level, where verification can be conducted securely, privately and efficiently — without compromising user safety. We hope regulators around the world will take this opportunity to explore more effective and privacy-conscious approaches to age assurance."
Issuance of guidelines and enforcement actions under the OSA have been slowly ramping up since the law took effect in 2023. Ofcom released its age assurance guidelines in January and has performed various forms of outreach to make information available to adult sites and platforms.
Meanwhile, the agency has already begun pursuing investigations of sites not in compliance with age assurance requirements.
