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Plans to force porn websites to check their users are of legal age have been quietly delayed by the Tory government.

The announcement was sneaked out at the bottom of a 3,400-word press release about 5G on the Orkney Islands.

Porn sites were originally told to install age verification software before April this year in an effort to make the internet safer for children.

In July last year, Tory minister Matt Hancock - now Culture Secretary - told MPs the measures would be "fully in place" by "April 2018".

But on Friday afternoon his department admitted it needs more "time to get the implementation of the policy right".

The British Board of Film Classification was decided as the age verification regulator in February, the government said.

(Image: Moment Open)

A consultation will only be launched later this month, and the government now believes age verification checks will be in place "by the end of the year".

Sites failing to comply could face fines of up to £250,000.

Anyone from the UK looking to access an adult site will have to prove their age and potentially provide credit card information, as they do for gambling sites.

The announcement was buried at the bottom of a press release on the government's digital strategy which focused on 5G digital networks.

It announced there would be five new testing systems for the super-fast phone network - including Liverpool, Worcestershire, and the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland.