London (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Britain imposed a £1 million fine on an adult website company on Thursday for failing to implement effective age verification measures to safeguard children.
This is the largest penalty issued so far under the country’s new online safety regulations. The Online Safety Act, which aims to safeguard children and vulnerable users from illegal online content, was enacted earlier this year.
This is the third company that Ofcom has fined under the new regime.
Why did Ofcom impose its largest age-safety fine?
Ofcom, the media regulator, announced it had fined AVS Group Ltd, which operates 18 adult websites, for deficiencies in age verification procedures. Additionally, it imposed a 50,000-pound fine for the company’s failure to respond to information requests.
Ofcom stated that it began examining AVS in July as part of an investigation into dozens of adult websites with millions of monthly visitors in Britain and Europe.
It stated that the fine was issued because it did not view AVS’s age verification process as “highly effective.” The penalty could rise by 1,000 pounds daily if effective age checks are not implemented within 72 hours.
“We continue to investigate other services’ compliance with age check requirements and will take action where necessary,”
Ofcom said in its statement.
Moreover, in October 2025, Ofcom fined the US-based online message board 4chan £20,000 for failing to comply with legally binding information requests under the Online Safety Act.
The fine relates to 4chan’s failure to provide information about its risk assessments for illegal and harmful content on its platform, which includes adult material and content harmful to minors.
How is the EU addressing age-verification failures online?
The European Union has also launched formal investigations under the Digital Services Act (DSA) into major adult platforms for alleged failures in protecting minors from explicit content, such as inadequate age verification.
These platforms, designated as “very large online platforms” (VLOPs) since late 2023 due to exceeding 45 million monthly EU users, face scrutiny for not conducting proper risk assessments or implementing mitigation measures against systemic risks like child access to pornography.
The European Commission initiated proceedings in May 2025, focusing on age verification tools, content moderation, and user reporting systems. Non-compliance could lead to fines up to 6% of global annual turnover or operational bans in extreme cases.
