The rules, which will be regulated by Ofcom, will block minors from accessing adult content by requiring strict age verification methods. Adults may be asked to scan their faces or upload a photo ID to confirm their age, depending on the site, according to Daily Mail.
Several adult platforms, including Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn, Jerkmate, BoyfriendTV, Stripchat, and others—have told Ofcom they plan to comply by the deadline. Other platforms not solely dedicated to adult content, such as Reddit, Bluesky, Discord, Grindr, and X, have also confirmed they will put in place age checks.
If websites fail to comply, Ofcom has the authority to issue fines or seek court orders to block access to non-compliant sites. “We will be actively checking compliance from 25 July and, should it be necessary, we expect to launch any investigations into individual services next week,” the regulator stated.
The changes are part of an effort to keep harmful content away from children online. “Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren't suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling,” said Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s group director of online safety. “But for too long children have been only a click away from harmful pornography online. Now, change is happening.”
Griffiths added, “These age checks will bring pornography into line with how we treat adult services in the real world, without compromising access and privacy for over-18s.”
Ofcom has outlined seven acceptable verification methods but will leave it to providers to choose which system to use, so long as it is “highly effective.” These methods include photo-ID matching, facial age estimation, credit card checks, mobile network operator (MNO) age filters, email-based age estimation, digital identity services, and open banking verification.
Open banking relies on data held by banks to confirm a user’s age. Photo-ID matching requires uploading official documents such as a passport or driver’s licence. Facial estimation uses AI to analyze a user’s face and approximate their age, while credit card checks are effective because cardholders must be at least 18 in the UK.
“The process can be as simple as submitting an email address and will return an accurate result in seconds,” said Lina Ghazal, head of regulatory and public affairs at age verification firm Verifymy.
