Porn websites will need to age-verify users in bid to protect children from adult content

8 February 2022, 07:12 | Updated: 8 February 2022, 08:58

Pornographic websites will soon need to verify their users are 18 or over in a bid to protect children from harmful content online.

All sites which publish the adult content will need to put in place "robust checks" to make sure they are only being viewed by people of age.

This could include secure age verification technology to confirm users have a credit card and are therefore an adult, or use a third-party service to confirm ages against Government data.

If a website doesn't comply, the regulator Ofcom will be able to fine them up to 10% of their global turnover or block the site from being accessible in the UK.

Those in charge of the sites could also be held criminally liable should they fail to work with Ofcom.

Digital minister Chris Philp said: "It is too easy for children to access pornography online. Parents deserve peace of mind that their children are protected online from seeing things no child should see.

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"We are now strengthening the Online Safety Bill so it applies to all porn sites to ensure we achieve our aim of making the internet a safer place for children."

The new rules require websites to work out how they can best comply with them. Data irrelevant to the purpose of checking a person's age should not be stored or processed, the Government added.

The head of child safety online policy at the NSPCC, Andy Burrows, said: "It's right the Government has listened to calls to fix one of the gaps in the Online Safety Bill and protect children from pornography wherever it's hosted.

"Crucially, they have also acted on our concerns and closed the 'Only Fans loophole' that would have let some of the riskiest sites off the hook despite allowing children access to extremely damaging material.

"But the legislation still falls short of giving children comprehensive protection from preventable abuse and harmful content and needs significant strengthening to match the Government's rhetoric and focus minds at the very top of tech companies on child safety."

Alex Davies-Jones said Labour has called for tighter rules to protect young people for a while.

But he added: "We need strict age protection rules, while tightly regulating age-verification tech to ensure they are not being used to collect unnecessary personal data and to protect people's privacy online."