Tech companies have launched legal action to force the Government to bring in the porn age ban, in a move supported by children’s charities.

Four age verification companies lodged a judicial review at the High Court Thursday challenging the Culture Secretary’s decision to shelve the scheme to impose age checks on all porn sites viewed in the UK.

The Telegraph understands the companies are arguing the decision was an “abuse of power” as the move had been approved by parliament. They are also claiming damages, understood to be in the region of £3 million, for losses sustained developing age verification technology.

The age verification scheme was initially passed as part of the Digital Economy Act in December 2018 and mandated that all adult sites had to have age checks proving UK users were over 18. However, its implementation was repeatedly delayed throughout 2019.

In October, Culture Secretary Baroness Nicky Morgan announced she was suspending the age check scheme and would look to incorporate it into proposed online harms legislation that aims to create a new online regulator. The Government has said it aims to publish draft legislation this year, but it could take two to three years before the regulator is up and running.

At the time the secretary of state said she wanted to look at closing a loophole that would have allowed minors to still view pornography on social media sites.