Adult websites : New UK laws from 25th July

The days of porn users ticking a box to say they are 18 are meant to be over.

From Friday, websites operating in the UK with pornographic content must “robustly” age-check users.

Adults wanting to access explicit material should experience a significant change in how they use the internet – while websites that ignore the new laws could be fined up to £18m, or 10% of worldwide revenue.

Ofcom, which estimates about 14 million people watch online pornography in the UK, says tougher age checks will make it harder for children to stumble across harmful material online

Ofcom, the media regulator, has set out a number of ways websites can verify the age of users, including through credit card checks, photo ID matching and estimating age using a selfie.

It says thousands of sites have committed to age checks.

Whatever format platforms choose, they must be “technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair”. (BBC)