Age verification without liveness nets Belize porn site operator £1M Ofcom fine

Enforcement of the UK’s Online Safety Act is progressing, with regulator Ofcom announcing a fine of over £1 million for an operator of pornographic websites for failing to use biometric liveness detection in its age verification system, and plans for the upcoming year. Those plans include a report on the effectiveness of age checks, more assessments, and possibly enforcement action against a major social media platform.

So far, Ofcom has opened investigations into 92 online services, and shares survey results showing 58 percent of parents believe its codes of practice are helping improve the safety of UK children online.

No liveness, no response

AVS Group Ltd., which operates 18 porn sites, has been fined £1 million for not having highly effective age assurance in place, plus an additional £50,000 for not responding to the regulator’s requests for more information. Then there is an extra £1,000 per day after 72 hours from the notice that it does not implement age checks, and £300 per day for up to 60 days for failing to respond to the regulator’s requests for information, which it says are legally binding.

The company does have “what it refers to as age verification” in place, Ofcom says, but it does not meet the criteria. Ofcom Online Safety Group Director Oliver Griffiths told Sky News that the company’s biometric age verification system did not include liveness checks.

The Belize-registered company’s silence on the matter has prompted some observers to suggest Ofcom’s enforcement has failed and that the OSA has no teeth. The next step for Ofcom, should AVS remain non-compliant and uncommunicative, is to seek injunctions to prevent it from earning revenue or even operating in the UK, such as against the company’s hosting or payment processing services, the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) points out in a LinkedIn post.

Busy 2026 ahead

Ofcom is planning to publish data and analysis on children’s online experiences in May of next year, followed by a report on age assurance’s effectiveness and deployments by July.

The body has reviewed 104 risk assessments and told 11 online platform operators to do more, each of which made revisions or supplied more information. A “major social media company” is engaged with Ofcom’s enforcement team on compliance remediation, which could soon result in further action, according to the announcement.

The regulator says “hash-matching” is now in place at more sites to detect and remove child sex abuse material (CSAM), but more work is needed in this area.

Second risk assessments are due on request between May 1 and July 31, 2026.

A review of a major platform’s terrorism and hate content removal system will be completed by next April.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  facial age estimation (FAE)  |  Ofcom  |  Online Safety Act  |  regulation  |  UK age verification  |  UK digital ID