Ofcom has fined the operator of a pornography site £630,000 for failing to properly check the ages of its users.
Sites allowing adult content, including porn, have had to use “highly effective” age assurance to make sure UK visitors are 18 or older since July 2025.
But Ofcom, which enforces these requirements, said the company behind porn site Fapello had not introduced any checks and did not reply to requests for information on time.
“Age checks are no longer optional for porn sites in the UK,” said George Lusty, director of enforcement at Ofcom.
“They are a cornerstone of our laws to protect children from content they should not be seeing.”
The regulator opened an investigation into the porn site operator in November.
On Thursday, Ofcom said it had fined the company £600,000 for not introducing methods to check the age of users.
After it did not respond to its requests for information on time, Ofcom handed down an additional £30,000 penalty.
“Providers also need to know that if they don’t supply accurate information to us on time, when we request it, they should expect to face enforcement action, including fines,” added Lusty.
While the site has since blocked UK visitors, the regulator says it will continue to monitor its compliance.
Broader scrutiny
The fine is one of many handed down by Ofcom in recent months over age check failings.
In May, the regulator fined porn company YoungTek Solutions £600,000 for not putting systems in place to make sure UK visitors were over the age of 18.
And prior to that, the regulator levied a £1.35m fine on another adult site operator for failing to introduce age checks.
But Ofcom has also faced ongoing scrutiny over the effectiveness of its enforcement of the UK’s age check rules for porn sites.
It was revealed in December the regulator had never heard from a firm handed a £1m fine – prompting questions of whether monetary penalties were enough to secure action.
However, that same company later began complying with Ofcom’s rules.
Meanwhile Ofcom is involved in an ongoing dispute with online message board 4chan over its refusal to pay a £520,000 fine.
A lawyer for the firm has repeatedly mocked the regulator’s threats of further fines or enforcement action with AI-generated cartoon images of hamsters.
Ofcom has set out a number of ways websites can verify the age of users, including through credit card checks, photo ID matching and estimating age using a selfie.
Whatever format platforms choose, they must be “technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair”, it says.
The regulator said on Thursday it had opened a new investigation into another porn provider, Bit Hive, to assess its compliance – citing concern one of its age check methods “may not be highly effective”.
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