Porn big hit with enormous high quality by Ofcom for not having age checks
Ofcom has fined an adult site operator a total of £1.4 million for failing to implement required age verification checks to prevent children from accessing explicit content
Ofcom has today (February 23) fined porn company(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
A porn company has been fined for millions for failing to implement required age checks to prevent children from accessing adult content. Ofcom has today (February 23) fined porn company 8579 LLC £1.35 million for not having age checks in place, plus £50,000 for failing to respond to an information request.
Under the UK’s Online Safety Act, sites that allow pornographic material must use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from readily accessing that content. Within days of this duty coming into force in July 2025, Ofcom launched investigations into the providers of dozens of adult sites, including 8579 LLC.
These websites were prioritised based on their user numbers.
Ofcom said in an official statement: “Following investigation, we have fined 8579 LLC £1.35 million for failing to comply with these age check requirements. The company must immediately implement highly effective age assurance or face a daily penalty of £1,000.”
It further stated: “Gathering accurate information from companies is fundamental to our job of making life safer online for people in the UK. These requests can help us to assess and monitor industry compliance with their safety duties, and firms are required, by law, to respond in an accurate, complete and timely way.
“For failing to abide by these requirements, we have also fined 8579 LLC £50,000. We will impose a daily penalty of £250 on the company until it responds, or for 60 days, whichever is sooner.”
George Lusty, Director of Enforcement at Ofcom, said: “We’ve been clear that adult sites must deploy robust age checks to protect children in the UK from seeing porn. Those that fail to do this – or ignore legally binding requests from us – should expect to face fines.”
In November 2025, the UK government announced plans to criminalise the possession and publication of pornography depicting strangulation and suffocation. This crackdown coincided with the stricter age verification requirements for adult sites under the Online Safety Act.
Max Hovey, a certified sex educator and adult creator, has been highly critical of the government’s ban on pornographic depictions of choking, arguing that such measures do not address the root issue of inadequate sex education. “If someone is not adequately taught about something they are more likely to do it dangerously,” he previously told the Daily Star.
Max stressed that the focus should be on teaching consent and safe practices, rather than censorship, stating: “We can’t physically stop people from doing it, so if you’re not talking about things in a way that encourages the least risk, it’s more likely to go wrong.” When it comes to minors and pornography, Max acknowledged the potential harms but insists that porn is not going away and that age verification measures are often ineffective.
He said: “I can still comfortably access most websites without age verification.” Max further argued that the real problem lies in the lack of comprehensive sex education, which fails to prepare young people for the realities of sex and relationships. He explained: “Porn can be damaging in terms of representation…
“People will watch it and not understand that it’s not reality. You won’t see them talk about consent or ask, ‘Is it okay if I do this?’”
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