Adult site provider fined £1 million for failing to comply with UK's Online Safety Act

Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, has fined AVS Group Ltd £1 million for its failure to introduce "robust age checks."

The fine is equivalent to approximately $1.3 million and concerns age verification laws imposed by the UK's Online Safety Act.

AVS Group Ltd runs 18 adult websites and has also been fined £50,000 for failing to respond to information requests.

A wave of age verification laws have been introduced across the US, alongside the UK, and the best VPNs have been thrust into the limelight as a result.

The perceived cybersecurity risks of age verification saw people investigate whether VPNs could bypass age checks and VPN spikes have been seen in the UK, as well as US states such as Arizona, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Missouri.

Ineffective age verification

Ofcom said it does not consider the age verification checks implemented by AVS to be "highly effective." The regulator added that "AVS must now implement highly effective age assurance within 72 hours of today’s decision, or face a daily penalty of £1,000 per day."

The deadline before facing these extra fines is 5pm GMT on December 6, 2025, and these would continue until changes have been made, or until March 16, 2026.

AVS will also receive £300 per day penalties, beginning on December 5, for every day it fails to respond to "legally binding" information requests. Ofcom said this will continue for 60 days or until AVS responds – whichever is sooner.

Ofcom has been investigating AVS since July 30, 2025, and the group has been fined for failing to comply with Section 12 and Section 102(8) of the Online Safety Act.

Ofcom said a photo upload system was deployed by AVS that didn't include liveness detection. Ofcom said children could bypass this check by uploading a picture of an adult.

Investigations have been launched into numerous sites hosting adult content. Ofcom said "websites were prioritised based on their user numbers and the risk of harm they posed." Currently, Ofcom has 92 investigations of online services, and has fined three providers.

The role of VPNs

A new report released by Ofcom said in July it saw UK VPN usage double, with over 1.5 million active users. It said that by October, active users had fallen to below 1 million. Ofcom added that it doesn't have reliable enough data to understand how much the increase in VPN usage was down to users wishing to avoid age checks.

VPNs will continue to be investigated, with Ofcom asking parents and children about their VPN usage and familiarity with the tools. Parents will also be asked if they use tools to block VPNs.

These investigations will guide decision making on whether "further action" surrounding VPNs is needed. VPNs are tools designed to protect your privacy online. They encrypt your data, protecting it from hackers and third-parties. Age verification laws have been part of an increased attack on VPNs – something seen as unfair and unjustified by many in the VPN industry.

Age verification critics have been vocal about the privacy risks posed by age verification checks. Personal data including photos, IDs, and credit card information, can all be submitted when verifying age. As well as compromising privacy, this data can become a target for hackers, and experts have warned sharing this data is a "disaster waiting to happen."

Discord suffered the first high-profile age verification hack in October, and concerns around data breaches were consistently raised in debates over age verification laws. Ofcom has said those "implementing age checks must comply with UK data protection laws."