Highlights
- Ofcom has fined 8579 LLC £1.35 million for failing to implement age verification measures on its porn websites.
- The company faces an additional £1,000 daily penalty if it fails to comply with remaining requirements by Monday.
- The fine is Ofcom's largest under the Online Safety Act since age verification rules took effect in July 2025.
Ofcom began investigating the firm within days of age verification rules taking effect in July 2025. According to the regulator, 8579 LLC failed to implement highly effective age checks on most of its porn sites between 25 July and at least 19 November 2025.
The company must now implement robust age verification on one remaining site before 17:00 GMT on Monday or face an additional £1,000 daily penalty.
It also risks a further £250 daily fine if it fails to provide Ofcom with a complete list of all sites it operates.
Regulator takes action
George Lusty, director of enforcement at Ofcom, told the BBC that the regulator had "been clear" that adult sites needed to deploy robust age checks to protect children from seeing pornography.
"Those that fail to do this or ignore legally binding requests from us should expect to face fines," he added.
In December, Ofcom fined porn company AVS Group Ltd £1 m for continued non-compliance with the Online Safety Act, after which AVS rolled out age checks on some of its sites.
Wider industry impact
The fines come amid wider industry turbulence. On 2 February, Pornhub began restricting access to its website in the UK.
Its parent company Aylo said the Online Safety Act had "not achieved its goal of protecting minors," adding that the law had "diverted traffic to darker, unregulated corners of the internet."
The Online Safety Act is a set of laws and duties online platforms must follow, enforced by Ofcom.
Under its Children's Codes, platforms must also prevent young people from encountering harmful content relating to suicide, self-harm, eating disorders and pornography.
