LONDON, England – Ofcom, the regulatory agency responsible for enforcing the UK’s “Online Safety Act,” has announced investigations into the compliance of four companies that collectively operate 34 adult sites, according to the statement.
“We have opened formal investigations into whether the following providers have highly effective age checks in place to protect children from encountering pornography across 34 websites: 8579 LLC, AVS Group Ltd, Kick Online Entertainment S.A. and Trendio Ltd,” Ofcom said in the announcement, adding that the companies in question “have been prioritised based on the risk of harm posed by the services they operate and their user numbers.”
Citing SimilarWeb data from June, Ofcom said the websites subject to the newly announced investigations collectively “have over 9 million unique monthly UK visitors.”
“These new cases add to Ofcom’s 11 investigations already in progress into 4chan, an online suicide forum, seven file-sharing services, First Time Videos LLC and Itai Tech Ltd,” Ofcom said, adding that the agency expects to “make further enforcement announcements in the coming weeks and months.”
According to the announcement, Ofcom will now “gather and analyze evidence to determine whether any contraventions have occurred.”
“If our assessment indicates compliance failures, we will issue provisional notices of contravention to providers, who can then make representations on our findings, before we make our final decisions,” Ofcom explained, adding that the agency “will provide updates on these investigations as soon as possible.”
In explaining its investigative process and enforcement powers, Ofcom said that where the agency identifies compliance failures, it can “require platforms to take specific steps to come into compliance.”
“We can also impose fines of up to £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater,” Ofcom added. “Where appropriate, in the most serious cases, we can seek a court order for ‘business disruption measures’, such as requiring payment providers or advertisers to withdraw their services from a platform, or requiring Internet Service Providers to block access to a site in the UK.”
In an additional statement pertaining to the AVS Group Ltd. investigation specifically, Ofcom noted that its investigations “initially focused on the duties of Part 5 services – those that publish or display their own pornographic content – to implement highly effective age assurance in accordance with section 81 of the Act.”
“These duties have applied since 17 January 2025,” Ofcom said. “The enforcement program was expanded on 25 July 2025 to include Part 3 services – those that allow users to upload or generate their own pornographic content.”
Ofcom added that its “investigation will examine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that the provider has failed, or is failing, to comply with its duties under section 12 of the Act, which requires services to prevent children from encountering pornographic content through the use of highly effective age assurance.”
For more information, see the full statement from Ofcom.
