Britain’s communications watchdog has launched an investigation into whether OnlyFans allowed children to view pornography on its website after an age verification error.
Regulator Ofcom is investigating the platform, which requires a minimum user age of 18 and hosts adult content mainly for paid members, for not having adequate age verification measures. It is also investigating whether OnlyFans provided “complete and accurate” responses to requests for information.
“There are grounds to suspect that the platform did not have age verification measures in place to adequately protect under-18s from pornographic content,” Ofcom said.
OnlyFans acts as a marketplace for adult performers, who upload their own material and keep 80% of the revenue.
Subscribers must provide their name and credit card details when signing up, and it also uses age estimation technology from software company Yoti, which scans users’ faces to estimate their approximate age. If applicants fail the automated scan, they will be required to present an official ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, to register.
The website said in a statement that due to a coding error, the threshold for passing the age estimation process was set at 20 years old instead of 23, resulting in younger subscribers than expected, including those who may be under 18. He said the possibility of it being registered has increased. , you were able to sign up for an OnlyFans account.
Ofcom is investigating whether 20 is a sufficient threshold to prevent under-18s from signing up. OnlyFans said it had “proactively” reported the issue to Ofcom.
The watchdog is investigating OnlyFans under the Video Sharing Platform (VSP) regime, rather than the recently implemented Online Safety Act (OSA). The VSP framework states that platforms in scope, including TikTok and Snapchat, must take steps to protect under-18s from videos containing pornography and other explicit material.
Ofcom can impose fines for breaches of the VSP regime and, in the most serious cases, suspend or restrict services.
The VSP framework will eventually be replaced by OSA, which went into effect last year. Under the law, sites offering pornography must have strict age verification measures or face fines of up to £18 million, or 10% of a company’s global turnover.
