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U.K. regulator Ofcomis investigating OnlyFans , anonline grownup content subscription table service , for failing to prevent children from accessing pornography through the platform .
Ofcom , the prescribed regulatory body for the U.K. ’s broadcasting , telecommunication and postal industry , says it has grounds to suspect that OnlyFans ’ parent companionship , Fenix International Limited , go bad to put through age - verification measure sufficiently .
The regulator is also investigate whether Fenix may have provided incomplete or inaccurate information as part of two information request notices issued by Ofcom — one in June 2022 , and another in June 2023 . These requests were project to inform a be after Ofcom theme into how TV - sharing platforms ( VSPs ) such as OnlyFans were protecting child from qualified cloth .
However , Ofcomsaysthat :
… the useable grounds suggests that the info ply by OnlyFans in response to the two notices may not have been complete and accurate , and that the age sureness measure it had learn may not have been carry out in such a style as to protect under eighteen from restricted fabric .
An OnlyFans spokesperson articulate that in addition to demand all fans to render a name and requital card details , the company uses a government - approvedage - assurance supplier called Yoti , which cater age - estimate technology through facial scan . The company said that a “ coding configuration issue ” in its report falsely stated it had localize a threshold of 23 years of historic period in Yoti , when in fact the company had set it to 20 years of eld . The spokesperson stressed , though , that the threshold was always above the legally need long time of 18 .
“ OnlyFans discovered the reporting erroneousness and proactively amended our report to Ofcom , ” the representative said in a statement issued to TechCrunch . “ As the leading U.K.-based and regulated social media weapons platform , OnlyFans works closely with Ofcom to put through and develop best - practice session on on-line rubber , include the use of age - assurance engineering . ”
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net drug user are getting untried ; now the UK is weighing up if AI can avail protect them
Regulations
The U.K. recentlyrolled out unexampled regulating under the Online Safety Actdesigned to govern online speech and mass medium , but these rules wo n’t bulge coming into forceuntil later this class . Thus , Ofcom says its investigation is being carried out under live regulation ( theCommunications Act 2003 ) that wereamended in 2020 , stipulate that VSPs based in the U.K. must take “ appropriate measuring stick to prevent under-18s from access pornographic material . ”
Ofcomhas been the U.K. ’s prescribed VSP regulatorsince 2020 .
It ’s deserving noting that Ofcom ’s investigation relate only to U.K. “ fans ” accessing the OnlyFans platform , rather than the content creators themselves who already have to leave designation to affirm themselves through their onboarding mental process .
