The British media regulator on Thursday imposed a fine of one million pounds (1.07 million €) on a company managing 18 pornographic sites for its insufficiently effective user age verification system.
This fine, which targets AVS Group, is the heaviest imposed on a company under the British “Online Safety Act” intended to protect children online.
“Although AVS has implemented what it calls age verification, we do not consider this measure to be sufficiently effective,” regulator Ofcom said in a statement announcing the fine.
The group must now put in place an appropriate system for verifying the age of users of its sites within 72 hours, or face a daily fine of 1,000 pounds. He also received a fine of 50,000 pounds (53,400 €) for not having responded to a request for information from Ofcom.
Since July 25, websites, social networks and video sharing platforms must implement strict age controls to prevent minors from accessing pornographic content in particular. In the event of non-compliance, platforms face fines of up to 18 million pounds sterling (19.2 million €), or 10% of their global turnover whichever is higher.
Site blocking threats
In the most serious cases, Ofcom may take legal action to block access to the site or platform concerned from British territory.
Following the entry into force of these new rules, Ofcom announced that it had launched an investigation to verify that 34 pornographic sites and platforms – including those of AVS – complied with them. This investigation is continuing, the regulator said Thursday.
The “Online safety act”, adopted in 2023, also imposes obligations on platforms to protect children from content promoting eating disorders, suicidal ideation and self-harm.
