Enforcement Programme to protect children from encountering pornographic content through the use of age assurance

Part 5 of the Online Safety Act 2025 imposes duties (Part 5 duties) on regulated providers of pornographic content to ensure, through the use of age verification or age estimation (or both), that children (under 18) are not normally able to encounter pornographic content. Such age verification measures must be highly effective at correctly determining whether a particular user is a child. This duty will come into force on 17 January 2025.

Ofcom has opened an enforcement programme into age assurance measures across the adult sector, which will initially focus on regulated providers’ compliance with the Part 5 duties.

Action we are taking: 

From the 17 January, we will be writing to all service providers that display or publish pornographic content (Part 5 Service Providers) to inform them of their obligations under the OSA and to request confirmation of the age assurance provisions they are implementing to achieve compliance with their duties under Part 5 of the OSA. A copy of the letter can be foundon our public correspondence page.

Our Supervision team, which leads engagement with regulated services, will also be engaging directly with the adult industry to support compliance. This will include both one to one regular engagement with the largest or riskiest services, as well as hosting and attending adult industry conferences to raise awareness of Ofcom and the new regulations and developing creative communications that will effectively inform pornography services about their obligations.