**Opening a new enforcement programme**

We expect all services to take a proactive approach to compliance and meet their respective implementation deadlines. [Today Ofcom is opening an age assurance enforcement programme](/online-safety/protecting-children/enforcement-programme-to-protect-children-from-encountering-pornographic-content-through-the-use-of-age-assurance), focusing our attention first on Part 5 services that display or publish their own pornographic content.

We will contact a range of adult services – large and small – to advise them of their new obligations. We will not hesitate to take action and launch investigations against services that do not engage or ultimately comply.

For too long, many online services which allow porn and other harmful material have ignored the fact that children are accessing their services. Either they don’t ask or, when they do, the checks are minimal and easy to avoid. That means companies have effectively been treating all users as if they’re adults, leaving children potentially exposed to porn and other types of harmful content. Today, this starts to change.

As age checks start to roll out in the coming months, adults will start to notice a difference in how they access certain online services. Services which host their own pornography must start to introduce age checks immediately, while other user-to-user services – including social media - which allow pornography and certain other types of content harmful to children will have to follow suit by July at the latest.

We’ll be monitoring the response from industry closely. Those companies that fail to meet these new requirements can expect to face enforcement action from Ofcom.

*- Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Executive*

**-ENDS-**

**Notes to editor**

1. Research shows that children are being exposed to online pornography from an early age. Of those who have seen online pornography, the average age they first encounter it is 13 – although more than a quarter come across it by age 11 (27%), and one in ten as young as 9 (10%). Source: [‘A lot of it is actually just abuse’- Young people and pornography](https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/a-lot-of-it-is-actually-just-abuse-young-people-and-pornography/) Children's Commissioner for England
2. [Research from the UK Government](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6707a9f030536cb927482f69/uk_safety_tech_sector_2024_analysis.pdf) indicates that UK firms account for an estimated one-in-four (23%) of the global safety tech workforce. 28% of safety tech companies are based in the UK according to recent [research by Paladin Capital and PUBLIC](https://view.publitas.com/public-1/international-state-of-safety-tech-report-24/page/20-21).
3. Source: Yonder Consulting - [Adult Users’ Attitudes to Age Verification on Adult Sites](/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/online-research/vsp/attitudes-to-age-verification/2022-adult-attitudes-to-age-verification-adult-sites.pdf?v=328580)
4. ‘Part 3’ services include those that host user-generated content, such as social media, tube sites, cam sites, and fan platforms.
5. Services that conclude they are not likely to be accessed by children – including where this is because they are using highly effective age assurance – must record the outcome of their assessment and must repeat the children’s access assessment at least annually.
6. ‘Part 5’ services are those that publish their own pornographic content, such as studios or pay sites, where operators control the material available.