Ofcom Fines AVS Group £1m for Age Verification Failures

Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, has fined AVS Group Ltd £1 million for failing to implement effective age verification measures on its 18 adult websites, marking the largest penalty issued under the Online Safety Act to date. The company, which operates sites including txxx.com, hdzog.com and hclips.com, also received an additional £50,000 fine for not responding to the regulator's information requests. This is the third enforcement action against a company since the act took effect on July 25.

The Online Safety Act requires websites hosting pornographic content to use highly effective age assurance systems to prevent children from accessing explicit material. Methods include credit card validation, uploading identification documents or facial scans for age estimation. AVS Group stated it had introduced age verification, but Ofcom's investigation determined the measures were not robust, accurate or reliable enough to meet the legal standards.

As a result, AVS Group must now implement compliant age assurance within 72 hours or face a daily fine of £1,000. It also faces an ongoing £300 daily penalty for noncompliance with information requests, capped at 60 days. Prior to...