The War on Porn Regular Updates about the Assault on The Adult Industry
Related Articles
Three Ofcom regulators with clipboards spent the weekend walking the exhibition floor of an international adult industry conference in Prague, urging the 1,700 delegates to comply with the UK’s new Online Safety Act.
“Don’t lie to us,” one of the regulators told a room full of pornography site owners and employees during a lunchtime presentation on the law’s age verification requirements, introduced in July to stop children from viewing explicit content. “Be honest and open. If your measures are not good enough yet, put that on your risk assessment.”
Delegates, some drinking champagne provided by conference sponsors, pressed the regulators with questions. What if a company couldn’t afford to install age verification? How big would the fines be? Could sites avoid compliance by blocking UK traffic? And what if competitors tipped off the regulator in an attempt to sabotage rival businesses?
“We exist to help you,” another Ofcom regulator assured an audience of about 50 men and seven women. “It’s hard. There are many, many things you need to know, but we exist to help members of the adult industry with compliance.”
Seven weeks after the introduction of the Online Safety Act, Ofcom officials said they wanted to emphasize positive progress. According to the regulators, all of the top 10 and most of the top 100 adult sites had either implemented age checks or blocked UK access. Social media sites that allow explicit content, such as X and Reddit, have also deployed age assurance. In August, there were 7.5 million visits to the top five age-verification providers, up from 1 million in June.
Officials described 27 July, the day the law came into effect, as “AV Day”—a moment they hoped would decisively shut off children’s access to online pornography. But the rollout has faced complications.
In the days immediately after implementation, downloads of VPNs surged as users sought to bypass geographic restrictions and age checks.
“The rollout has been fairly disastrous,” said Mike Stabile, director of public policy at the Free Speech Coalition in the U.S. “VPNs have surged; people have not been compliant; we’re seeing traffic go to pirate sites … I don’t think Ofcom would look at this and say: ‘This is what we wanted.’”
American lawyer Corey Silverstein, who has challenged similar age-verification laws in several U.S. states, said there was hostility among delegates. “People are very professional and very polite, but this isn’t the friendliest audience. Some people steer very clear of them. You can see it must be uncomfortable for them walking into a trade show like this.”
Still, Silverstein advised adult site owners to work with regulators. “Their goal is not to cut your legs off. They smile and they’re very nice. They’re not trying to kill you,” he said. “My understanding is they’re actually not even looking to financially fine you. They just want to push you in the right direction for compliance.”
At the conference, regulators in white shirts handed out paper questionnaires to delegates as steel drums played and dancers in feathered leotards entertained the crowd. The anonymous forms asked whether companies had adopted age verification and, if not, why they had done nothing. By Saturday evening, one official admitted few delegates had filled them out but expressed hope for more participation the next day.
So far, no company has been fined under the Online Safety Act, but Ofcom has opened 12 investigations covering more than 60 pornographic sites and apps.
This has caused unease among site operators, many of whom are already contending with new regulations in the U.S. and France. Still, some acknowledged the value of Ofcom’s outreach.
“In the U.S., people really don’t want to talk to us,” said Alex Kekesi, Pornhub’s vice president of brand and community. “We appreciate that Ofcom has invited us to have a seat at the table. We’re often not included in conversations that have to do with regulating our industry.”
Ahead of the law’s introduction, Ofcom created a Porn Portfolio team of six compliance officers to encourage adherence. Members of the team, who requested anonymity for safeguarding reasons, have attended similar conferences in Berlin, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles. A separate enforcement team of more than 40 staff investigates violations.
“We are very conscious of the size of the sector and the ease with which anybody can set up a service that shares pornographic content,” one official said. “We’re not saying that we are going to manage to get every single service into compliance. The approach we take is targeting our resources on those areas where the most children are at most risk of harm.”
Penalties, when imposed, will be significant. Sites could face fines up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue.
“Companies can choose to not comply and take the risk that we will come after them and find them. We want enforcement to change that balance of incentives, so they think it’s just not worth taking the risk,” another regulator explained.
Officials also pushed back on the idea that VPN use means the law has failed, stressing that the main goal is to stop children from accidentally stumbling across pornography rather than blocking determined adults.
Beyond age verification, site operators are also wrestling with AI-generated pornographic content. Regulators warned companies to prevent the creation of violent or illegal imagery that could result in action by Ofcom or payment processors like Visa and Mastercard.
“From a compliance perspective, how can you tell the difference between a 15-year-old AI model and an 18- or 19-year-old AI model?” one delegate asked, concerned about preventing users from producing child sexual abuse material.
Steve Jones, who operates an AI porn site, explained how his team manages the issue. “We say your creation has to be at least 5ft tall, can’t be completely flat-chested and we ban things like pigtails and braces and all the childish toys and teddy bears and things like that,” he said. “AI doesn’t understand the difference between an adult woman that looks young and a young girl. We have to teach it. The AI itself has no morals and no ethics.”
