Ofcom Sends Clear Warning With £1.4 Million Fine Over Missing Age Checks

Key Takeaways

• £1.4 Million in Total Penalties: Ofcom fined 8579 LLC £1.35 million for failing to implement highly effective age assurance under the Online Safety Act, plus £50,000 for failing to respond to a legally binding information request.
• Daily Penalties Now in Play: The company must immediately implement compliant age checks or face a £1,000 daily fine. It will also face £250 per day for up to 60 days, or until it responds to Ofcom’s information request.
• Age Assurance Duty Is Live: The Online Safety Act’s requirement for pornographic sites to deploy highly effective age assurance came into force in July 2025, triggering immediate regulatory investigations.
• Information Requests Are Enforceable: Failure to respond accurately and on time to statutory information requests carries its own financial consequences, separate from substantive compliance failures.

Deep Dive

Ofcom has announced it has fined adult content provider 8579 LLC a total of £1.4 million for failing to put age checks in place, as required under the Online Safety Act.

The penalty breaks down into £1.35 million for failing to deploy “highly effective age assurance” measures, plus £50,000 for ignoring a legally binding information request from the regulator. And the meter may not have stopped yet.

Ofcom has ordered the company to immediately implement effective age assurance or face a daily penalty of £1,000. Separately, it will impose a further £250 per day for up to 60 days, or until the company responds to its information request, whichever is sooner.

Age Assurance Goes From Policy to Enforcement

The Online Safety Act requires sites that allow pornographic material to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from readily accessing that content. That duty came into force in July 2025.

Within days, Ofcom launched investigations into the providers of dozens of adult sites, including 8579. The regulator said those sites were prioritised based on user numbers, signaling early on that scale would not shield platforms from scrutiny.

Following its investigation, Ofcom concluded that 8579 LLC had failed to comply with the age check requirements.

The fine is one of the clearest examples to date that the Act’s child protection provisions are being backed by financial muscle.

Ignoring the Regulator Carries Its Own Price

The enforcement action did not stop at age assurance. Ofcom also fined the company £50,000 for failing to respond to a statutory information request. The regulator said gathering accurate information is fundamental to its role in making life safer online for people in the UK, and companies are legally required to respond in an accurate, complete and timely manner.

Failure to do so now triggers an additional daily penalty of £250 for up to 60 days, or until a response is provided.

George Lusty, Director of Enforcement at Ofcom, put it plainly:

“We’ve been clear that adult sites must deploy robust age checks to protect children in the UK from seeing porn. Those that fail to do this – or ignore legally binding requests from us – should expect to face fines.”

The case lands at a pivotal moment for the Online Safety Act’s implementation. The July 2025 duties were widely anticipated, but enforcement actions of this scale clarify how seriously Ofcom intends to treat non-compliance.

For adult platforms serving UK users, the message is now hard to miss. Age assurance is not optional, and regulatory correspondence is not something to leave unanswered. The combination of headline fines and rolling daily penalties shows that Ofcom is prepared to escalate quickly where it sees breaches.

The Online Safety Act promised tougher oversight of online harms. This week’s decision suggests that promise is moving from statute book to balance sheet.

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