Ofcom fines geoblocked porn site, signaling tougher age assurance enforcement

A moment of gratitude for the accidental comedy to be found in UK regulator Ofcom’s ongoing efforts to enforce the Online Safety Act (OSA). With the threat of stiff penalties putting heat on adult content providers to use strong protection, its latest missive gives a hard smack on the wrists to Fapello.com, a pornography streaming website that a Confirmation Decision says “has failed to comply with its duties under section 12 of the Act to protect children from encountering pornographic content through the use of highly effective age assurance.”

The case of Fapello sees Ofcom imposing a retroactive fine, covering noncompliance between July 2025, when the OSA’s requirements took effect, to November 26, 2025. Fapello subsequently introduced, then withdrew age assurance measures, and ultimately decided to walk away from the UK market: in January 2026, it geo-blocked its site in the UK.

But that four-month period of chin-stroking is set to cost Fapello 600,000 pounds (about $818,000)  in fines from Ofcom, “in respect of its failure to comply with the duties under Section 12 of Part 3 of the Act.”

Fapello further wronged Ofcom when it failed to call back, after Ofcom asked for information regarding its qualifying worldwide revenue and a full list of the services it operates. Ignoring Ofcom adds another £30,000 ($40,900) to the tab. And, “in the event of continuing non-compliance, Ofcom will impose a daily penalty at a rate of £200 per day starting from 9 July 2026,” until the problem is fixed (or until September 7, 2026, whichever comes sooner).

Ofcom moves from guidance to penalties

What is significant in Ofcom’s action is not Fapello itself (which sounds like a rather pleasant Italian ice cream dessert). The Confirmation Decision says that, during the relevant period, the site did not implement age assurance classified by Ofcom’s Guidance as being highly effective at determining whether or not a particular user is a child. In this, it is surely not alone.

And therein is the greater significance: Ofcom’s enforcement efforts are catching up with OSA legislation. The regulator has faced pressure from major platforms taking the brunt of its legislative whip, demanding an even playing field for porn platforms of all sizes. Pornhub continues to argue that age checks have pushed users to websites that do not comply with the OSA and are not protecting children from harmful content. Per a report from the Financial Times, it recently wrote to UK parliament arguing that, as of June 2026, non-compliant sites occupied seven out of the top 10 search results for ‘free porn.’

According to Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company, as of last year traffic to Pornhub had fallen 77 per cent since the OSA came into effect. It insists device-level checks are the most effective way to prevent children from accessing explicit content, and notes Ofcom’s data showing that the use of VPNs in the UK has almost doubled since the OSA took effect.

The law has unquestionably hurt Aylo and its compliant peers. (Ofcom says all of the UK’s top 10 porn sites and the majority of the top 100 are now compliant.) But the Fapello action shows that it is now acting on cases of noncompliance by comparatively smaller sites that may not be ongoing, yet nonetheless represent a period of violation and therefore trigger fines.

For Fapello, the bill has come due. Surely others will follow. Ofcom, often criticized for weak enforcement, will not be brushed aside. It may simply take time for Ofcom to work through the long tail of non-compliant sites. “The job is not done, and we’ve been clear that further action is needed from the tech industry to increase the effectiveness of age checks to protect children online.”

Geo-blocking alone may not satisfy Ofcom, says AVPA

The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) takes Ofcom’s decision as evidence that it “has clearly developed a more sophisticated position on geoblocking.”

In a post on LinkedIn, AVPA says the handling of Fapello shows Ofcom has “accepted that a full UK IP block may be relevant evidence of an attempt to prevent UK access and may mitigate enforcement penalties – but it has deliberately declined to decide whether geo-blocking is legally or technically sufficient to comply with the Online Safety Act.”

“In paragraph 3.20, Ofcom says the site ‘remains in scope’ of Part 3 despite the block. That appears to reject Fapello’s argument that geo-blocking automatically removes its links with the UK or takes it outside the Act.” UK users could still be accessing Fapello using virtual private networks (VPNs), and AVPA believes sites that remain scope of the Act due to the number of UK users accessing with a VPN “need to use additional, available measures to flag VPN users that are likely to be in the UK – browser signals, content choice, latency.”

In this, it aligns with policy in the UK that puts the onus on platforms to prevent age check circumvention.

Article Topics

age verification  |  AVPA  |  Aylo  |  Ofcom  |  Online Safety Act  |  regulation