The U.K.’s communications regulator Ofcom has opened an investigation into OnlyFans over whether it’s doing enough to prevent children accessing pornography on the site.
The online adult content subscription service, founded in 2016 and owned by Fenix International Limited, has a minimum user age of 18.
Those signing up are asked to provide their name and credit card details, and also have to submit a photo to be scanned by a system from software company Yoti, which estimates their age. Those failing to pass the test can still sign up by providing ID such as a passport or driving license.
Under the Communications Act 2003, video sharing platforms established in the U.K. are required to take ‘appropriate measures’ to prevent under-18s from accessing pornographic material.
“However, having reviewed submissions we received from OnlyFans in response to formal information requests, we have grounds to suspect the platform did not implement its age verification measures in such a way as to sufficiently protect under-18s from pornographic material,” Ofcom said.
“We are also investigating whether OnlyFans failed to comply with its duties to provide complete and accurate information in response to these statutory requests.”
The investigation relates to notices issued to Fenix International last summer and the summer before, which asked for information on the measures the company was taking to protect the under-18s.
And, said Ofcom, “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.”
The investigation only affects UK-based visitors to the site, and doesn’t impact any content creators, who are subject to a more comprehensive identity verification process.
OnlyFans has had a fraught time of it over the last few years. In 2021, it threatened to ban sexually explicit material from its site after, it said, it received pressure from banking partners concerned about their reputation. It later reversed the plan.
In the same year, a BBC investigation found girls as young as 13 were able to set up ‘creator’ accounts allowing them to sell illegal sexual content of themselves on the site to paying adults.
OnlyFans says that any issues derive from an error in the way that its age verification software was implemented.
“In addition to requiring that all users provide their name and payment card details, OnlyFans uses the government-approved age-assurance provider Yoti,” says a spokesperson.
“A coding configuration issue led to a reporting error which stated a threshold was set to 23 years of age, during a period of time when it had been set to 20—always higher than the requirement of 18.”
The company says it proactively amended its report to Ofcom when the error was discovered.
Ofcom says it expects to be able to give an update on its investigation by August.