OnlyFans faces investigation over whether it allowed children to access pornography on its website

A regulatory body has opened an investigation into OnlyFans over concerns the adults-only platform hasn't sufficiently prevented children from accessing pornography on its website.

Ofcom, the U.K.'s media regulator, announced Wednesday it would be looking into whether the subscription-based service is in line with the country's 2003 Communications Act, which — in part — requires video-sharing platforms to protect minors from material that "might impair their physical, mental or moral development," Ofcom said.

To follow this section of the act, VSPs are required to put systems like age-assurance software in place, and Ofcom has to be able to gather accurate information about and monitor the effectiveness of these systems. But in OnlyFans case, Ofcom notes the platform might not have been transparent about its compliance when responding to the regulator's information requests.

"The available evidence suggests that the information provided by OnlyFans in response to the two notices may not have been complete and accurate and that the age assurance measures it had taken may not have been implemented in such a way as to protect under 18s from restricted material," Ofcom said.

That means, if proven, OnlyFans has two strikes against it due to noncompliance with the act: one for not implementing working age-assurance measures and the other for not complying with two information request notices, one from June 2022 and the other from June 2023.

In a statement to Reuters, an OnlyFans spokesperson said the platform works closely with Ofcom to ensure online safety best practices, like age-assurance technology, are in place. But she said the provider it uses for this technology, Yoti, had a coding error that caused an error in some age thresholds on its site. The spokesperson said the platform "proactively" reported the error to Ofcom.

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OnlyFans is a creator-generated, subscription-based service primarily used as a marketplace for sex workers. Per its website, creators have to provide sometimes more than nine pieces of personally identifying information, such as government photo IDs and social security numbers in the U.S., upon sign-up to verify their age. After that, the platform says it regularly checks both creator and "fan" accounts to follow up on age verification, including "selfie checks" on a rolling 30-day cycle for creators.

But Ofcom's investigation specifically focuses on the age verification of OnlyFans' U.K. "fans," not the creators. The regulator said it expects to provide an update on the investigation by August 2024.

Ofcom became the formal regulator for online safety in Britain last year when the Online Safety Act was made law. This charged the body with not only ensuring children are safe from harmful content but also with the ability to take enforcement action if a service — which doesn't have to be based in the U.K. — is non-compliant. That action could mean a fine of $22 million or up to 10% of a company's global revenue, whichever is more.

However, these rules won't come into effect until later this year, so Ofcom, which has regulated Britain's VSPs since 2020, brought the action under the existing rules of the Act.