The Online Safety Act is being implemented in phases, and is intended to prevent past practices which Ofcom described as online platforms being “unregulated, unaccountable and often unwilling to prioritise people’s safety over profits.”
In addition to the AVS fine, Ofcom also announced that one “major social media company” was going through compliance remediation with its enforcement team.
The regulator has not named the platform but says there may be formal action if it does not see sufficient improvement soon.
Tougher age checks for porn websites were introduced in July, though some people have pointed out these could be easily avoided with a virtual private network (VPN), which reroutes internet traffic.
In October, Pornhub’s parent company told BBC News it had seen a 77% drop in UK visitors since the age checks had come in.
Ofcom has already started issuing fines to some companies for not implementing proper age verification, including deepfake “nudify” applications.
However, online message board 4Chan has so far refused to comply with a £20,000 fine issued by Ofcom over the summer.
Also introduced this year were tougher guidelines on ensuring the internet was safer for women and girls, with Ofcom vowing to name and shame platforms that did not comply.
Critics say the Act needs to be toughened to make the internet safer, particularly for women and girls.
