Porn company slapped with £1 million fine over age verification laws

The parent company of 18 porn websites has been handed a £1 million fine from Ofcom over age verification laws introduced earlier this year.

AVS Group Ltd are said to have failed to introduce adequate age checks as part of the Online Safety Bill, which came into effect in July.

The law stipulates that websites containing adult material must have 'highly effective age assurance' to prevent children from being able to access inappropriate content like pornography.

Now, users must prove they are 18 or older by undergoing checks, like scanning their credit card or taking a selfie which is analysed to determine their age.

While AVS claims it did implement age verification checks, Ofcom says the checks were not effective, prompting the regulator to issue a hefty £1 million fine.

AVS owns 18 porn websites (Getty Stock Images)

On top of that, Ofcom has issued a further £50,000 penalty, claiming the company had failed to respond with information when prompted. Now, AVS has just 72 hours to introduce effective age verification checks that meet the law's requirements or risk facing a daily penalty of £1,000.

According to reports in the BBC, Ofcom is also going through compliance remediation between a 'major social media company' and its enforcement team, but declined to name the company.

However, if the company fails to show sufficient improvement soon, the regulator will be forced to introduce formal action.

Ofcom's online safety group director, Oliver Griffiths, said: "This year has seen important changes for people, with new measures across many sites and apps now better protecting children from harmful content.

The Online Safety Bill came into effect in July (Getty Stock Images)

"But we need to see much more from tech companies next year and we'll use our full powers if they fall short."

Meanwhile, Baroness Beeban Kidron, who founded the 5Rights Foundation, said that the fines were 'nothing' to the big companies and instead the law should be used to disrupt businesses until they comply.

"Business disruption is everything. Unless we're prepared to use the law, they're not really doing what Parliament asked them to do," she told the Today Programme.

"We need a whole different attitude about the level of intensity and robustness from the regulator to say - we've got the law and we're using it."

Earlier this year, Pornhub's parent company revealed it had seen a 77 percent drop in visitors from the UK after age checks into play, with Google data showing a decrease in searches by almost half since the bill came into effect.