Ofcom fines adult-content provider £80,000 for failing Online Safety Act age checks
Operators of UK-accessible pornographic services without highly effective age checks face Online Safety Act financial penalties, following Ofcom's first such fine
Change
On 19 June 2026, Ofcom imposed an £80,000 penalty on First Time Videos LLC for failing to use highly effective age assurance under the Online Safety Act 2023, its first fine for an age-check breach, and confirmed two further live investigations into other adult-content providers on the same duty.
Why it matters
The Online Safety Act requires services hosting pornographic content to operate highly effective age checks to prevent under-18s from accessing that content. Ofcom has now enforced that duty with a financial penalty for the first time and stated it will pursue similar action against non-compliant providers. Ofcom has issued a provisional finding that the provider of xgroovy.com failed the same duty and has expanded its investigation into Sun Social Media Inc. to a further adult site, signalling active enforcement across the sector.
Implications
- — Operators of services hosting pornographic content accessible in the UK must have highly effective age assurance in place to verify users are over 18 — Ofcom has imposed its first penalty for this breach and has two further investigations live, so non-compliance carries demonstrated financial-penalty and enforcement exposure.
- — Legal and compliance teams at adult-content platforms must verify their age-assurance method meets Ofcom's 'highly effective' standard rather than relying on self-declaration or weak checks — Ofcom assesses the effectiveness of the method, and an inadequate method is treated as non-compliance regardless of whether a check exists.
Who is affected
- — Operators of UK-accessible services hosting pornographic content
- — Legal and compliance teams at adult-content platforms