Compulsory age ID checks will be introduced on online pornography from April 2018 in the UK.

The government announced the move this week in a bid to protect under-18s and digital minister Matt Hancock signed the commencement order for the Digital Economy Act, which introduces the requirement.

At this moment, there are no actual details on how this will work. Some experts also think the proposed date is “unrealistic.”

The act also sets out other online laws including punishing the use of bots to snatch up scores of concert tickets which artists like Ed Sheeran and You Me At Six have been calling for for a long time.

How will this ID check work?

An age-check requirement applies to any website or other online platform that provides pornography "on a commercial basis" to people in the UK.

Businesses that refuse to comply can be fined and regulators can ask third-party payment services to withdraw support.

Regulators will also be able to block porn websites if they fail to show that they are denying access to under-18s.

These websites will be required to demand credit card details or proof of age and face fines of up to £250,000 or being blocked by UK internet service providers if they do not comply.

Mindgeek, which operates several of the world's most popular porn sites has expressed support for this in the past.

There are some reservations from experts however. Dr Victoria Nash says while "It may make it harder for children to stumble across pornography, especially in the younger age range, but it will do nothing to stop determined teenagers."

Another critic is Dr Joss Wright from the Oxford Internet Institute who said "There's privacy issues - you're requiring people to effectively announce the fact they are looking at this material to the credit card authorities. "And there's serious security issues from requiring people to enter their credit card details into untrusted sites.”

What are the current UK porn laws?

In December 2014, the jurisdiction of the British Board of Film Classification was extended to include pornography available over video on demand and streaming platforms, effectively aligning internet pornography laws with the Video Recordings Act 1984.

This brought a renewed controversy over the banning of depiction of certain sex acts including depictions "physical or verbal abuse", "roleplay as non-adults", and female ejaculation, among others.

Extreme Pornography

The offence of possession of extreme pornographic images in Part 5, sections 63 to 67 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (the Act) came into force in 2009.

Sections 63 to 67 of the Act make it an offence to possess pornographic images that depict acts which threaten a person's life; acts which result in or are likely to result in serious injury; bestiality; or necrophilia. They also provide for the exclusion of classified films etc. and set out defences and the penalties for the offence.

Revenge Pornography

Revenge pornography is the public sharing of sexually explicit media without the consent of the pictured individual, usually following the breakdown of an intimate relationship and with the intention of causing the victim distress.

Indecent photographs of children

Section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978 covers the taking, making, distribution, showing or possession with a view to distributing any indecent image of a child. This offence or an offence contrary to section 160 Criminal Justice Act 1988 should be charged instead of an Obscene Publications offence where the material concerned includes indecent images of children.

Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955

This Act applies to any book, magazine or other like work which is of a kind likely to fall into the hands of children or young persons and consists wholly or mainly of stories told in pictures (with or without the addition of written matter), being stories portraying:

the commission of crimes; or

acts of violence or cruelty; or

incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature;

in such a way that the work as a whole would tend to corrupt a child or young person into whose hands it might fall.