The government has dropped plans to block pornography websites in the UK unless they could effectively check the ages of visitors.

Sky News first revealed that the age verification scheme was being indefinitely delayed back in June.

Following our report, the government claimed the delay would only last six months, but today digital secretary Nicky Morgan confirmed that the plans "will not be commencing".

Image: Digital Secretary Nicky Morgan confirmed the law was being dropped

The controversial scheme had prompted campaigners to raise concerns that it would enable widespread tracking of porn watchers' identities and browsing habits, creating the potential for blackmail and online surveillance.

In a written statement to parliament, Ms Morgan said that the government would instead be focusing on its new "online harms" regulation to address issues caused by children accessing pornographic websites.


"The government's commitment to protecting children online is unwavering. Adult content is too easily accessed online and more needs to be done to protect children from harm," wrote Ms Morgan.

Sky News understands the cause of the most recent delay issue was a bureaucratic failure regarding the British Board of Film Classification which was selected as the age verification regulator.

When laying the BBFC's guidance in parliament in late 2018, the government failed to notify the European Commission as it is required to of the new regulator's role, undermining the legal basis of age verification.

The law was designed to cover any website that was "more than one-third pornographic" - meaning the likes of Twitter and Reddit were exempt.

Image: The law would impact websites more than a third pornographic

Experts suggested that the law could put government ministers and other high-profile figures at risk of blackmail if their embarrassing habits were observed by hackers.

Figures released in 2018 revealed that there were roughly 160 attempts a day to access blocked pornographic websites within parliament the year before.

In addition to increasing risks for legitimate adult viewers of pornography, academic researchers and technology experts warned the measures "would not necessarily" protect children from that same material.

The UK's domestic pornography industry also warned it was being put at risk by the age verification laws.

Speaking to Sky News, feminist pornography Pandora/Blake alongside obscenity lawyer Myles Jackman said the plans would harm small businesses and curtail the freedom of expression by allowing multinational pornography giants to monopolise the industry.

Many of the most popular pornographic websites (Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn) and production studios (Brazzers, Digital Playground) are owned by one company: MindGeek.

MindGeek stood to increase its already considerable market share by offering age verification services to smaller sites.

Mr Jackman warned that "the consequences socially, are the extreme risk of privacy loss to any person who participates in the age verification system in order to access pornography".

He added: "We've been told by MindGeek that 20 to 25 million adult users will sign up to age verification by their estimation in the first month that age verification comes online.

"And as a consequence of that, on the basis that they do not have the greatest history of data security... there's a high probability that those people are risking putting their private sexual proclivities in the public domain."

MindGeek did not respond to Sky News when asked for comment.