An adult film actor has taken the unusual step of reading out the government’s Online Safety Act explainer in a 26-minute video to urge the porn industry to comply with upcoming age verification laws or risk being blocked in the UK. UK adult websites must introduce effective age verification measures by 25 July or risk […]
An adult film actor has taken the unusual step of reading out the government’s Online Safety Act explainer in a 26-minute video to urge the porn industry to comply with upcoming age verification laws or risk being blocked in the UK.
UK adult websites must introduce effective age verification measures by 25 July or risk fines and bans under the new Online Safety Act, according to media regulator Ofcom.
The legislation will require pornographic websites and platforms hosting user-generated content to prevent under-18s from accessing adult material or face enforcement action.
To raise awareness within the industry, adult film performer Ivy Maddox has partnered with age verification company Verifymy to produce a 26-minute video, Coming Soon, in which she reads both the government’s explainer of the Online Safety Act as well as the official Ofcom guidance for Age checks to protect children online.
Ivy Maddox reads the UK’s Online Safety Bill
Maddox said the project was aimed at encouraging compliance across the sector and protecting minors from inappropriate content.
“I don’t want children seeing my content,” Maddox said. “I was first exposed to porn at school when I didn’t want to see it. This film is my way of raising awareness of rules that will have a big impact on my industry.”
Ofcom guidance issued in January states that only age checks deemed “technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair” will be accepted.
These include traditional ID checks as well as newer technologies such as facial-age estimation and email-based analysis. Self-declaration methods, such as ticking a box to confirm age, will no longer be considered compliant.
The Online Safety Act introduces wide-ranging duties for online platforms, with a particular emphasis on child protection. Research by the Children’s Commissioner for England found that children in the UK first encounter online pornography at an average age of 13, with 10% seeing it by age nine.
Failure to comply with the new rules could result in fines of up to £18 million or 10% of global turnover. Ofcom also has powers to block access to non-compliant websites in the UK.
Lina Ghazal, head of regulatory and Public Affairs at Verifymy, warned that delays in implementation could leave platforms exposed. “This is a real chance for the sector to come together to protect children online,” she said.
Verifymy COO Andy Lulham added: “Technology available today is designed to protect privacy while verifying age quickly. Platforms still have time to comply, but they need to act now.”
