As porn sites apply new age checks, will users hand over personal ID?

The days of porn users ticking a box to say they are 18 are meant to be over.

From Friday, websites operating in the UK with pornographic content must "robustly" age-check users.

Adults wanting to access explicit material should experience a significant change in how they use the internet - while websites that ignore the new laws could be fined up to £18m, or 10% of worldwide revenue.

Ofcom, which estimates about 14 million people watch online pornography in the UK, says tougher age checks will make it harder for children to stumble across harmful material online.

But are the new rules set out in the Online Safety Act watertight, or will people be able to find ways around them? Which sites will check your age?

Ofcom, the media regulator, has set out a number of ways websites can verify the age of users, including through credit card checks, photo ID matching and estimating age using a selfie.

It says thousands of sites have committed to age checks.

Whatever format platforms choose, they must be "technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair".

Some sites that host sexually explicit content have already committed to introducing age checks.

But Ofcom says they must also take action over methods people might use to get around checks.

Some of the ways Ofcom suggests platforms can check ages prompt questions, but Chelsea Jarvie, a cyber security expert, said the methods "are effective at proving someone's age and include controls to prevent circumvention".

"However, like all technology controls, determined users will try to find ways around them and we may see users turning to more anonymous methods to access online content," she said.

There is an additional problem - trust among internet users amid high-profile cyber attacks.

"Many remain cautious about handing over personal identity information in order to prove their age," she said.

Age verification companies insist their systems are robust and will prevent people from getting around their tools.

"It is possible that an adult could complete an age check on behalf of a child if they were passed a device," added Andy Lulham from Verifymy.

"This would be comparable to an adult going into a shop and buying a pornographic magazine on behalf of a child, and would be extremely irresponsible."

All sites and apps allowing pornography in the UK will be required to have "highly effective" methods to check the age of users by 25 July.

Pornhub and a number of other major adult websites have confirmed they will introduce enhanced age checks, while Reddit has already introduced age verification to stop people aged under 18 from looking at "certain mature content".

Ofcom said X and Grindr have committed to age checks. X says it is planning to introduce facial age estimation using its own artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Facial scans will also be used by Telegram to determine if users are over or under 18, according to the platform's privacy policy.

Discord gives UK users a choice of face or ID scanning as a way to verify their age, after testing methods, and Bluesky says it will give UK users a range of different verification options.

Many more services which allow sexually explicit material may need to bring in measures to comply with the new rules.

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