The War on Porn Regular Updates about the Assault on The Adult Industry
Related Articles
LONDON — U.K. media regulator Ofcom has fined adult website XGroovy £700,000 (about $986,000) for failing to comply with provisions of the Online Safety Act.
Ofcom opened its investigation into XGroovy in September 2025. In June, the regulator issued a provisional decision, saying it had “reasonable grounds” to believe the site had breached its obligations under the OSA between July and November 2025.
Ofcom has now finalized the decision, imposing a £700,000 fine on XGroovy for failing to have age checks in place. The regulator also fined the site £30,000 for failing to respond within the required timeframe to a legally binding request for information.
The regulator also plans to impose an additional penalty of £200 per day until XGroovy supplies the requested information or until November 3, 2026, whichever comes first.
Ofcom said that after it began formal enforcement proceedings against XGroovy, the site introduced age assurance measures and subsequently blocked access from U.K. IP addresses. The site is therefore no longer directly available to users in the country.
Ofcom Director of Enforcement George Lusty said, “The message to adult websites is clear: put effective age checks in place to keep children from accessing porn. If companies fail to do this, or ignore legally binding requests from us, they should expect to face fines.”
In February, French media regulator Arcom also sent enforcement notices to the operators of XGroovy, saying the site had not implemented age verification measures required under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.
Ofcom also issued a provisional notice of contravention Thursday to ZD Media, which the regulator identifies as the operator of hello.porn, homo.xxx, max.porn, ok.porn, ok.xxx, perfectgirls.xxx, pin.porn, pornhat.com, pornhat.one and pornstars.tube. Updating an investigation launched in September 2025, Ofcom said it has “reasonable grounds” to believe the company is in breach of its obligations under the OSA. ZD Media will have 20 working days to respond before Ofcom makes a final decision.
