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The government has delayed a controversial age verification block on pornography websites in the UK. The system, which was meant to go live in April, would have required all pornographic websites to verify if people viewing content were 18 years of age or older.

Confirmation of the delay, buried deeply within a government press release about 5G, reveals that "age verification will be enforceable by the end of the year."


The project, spearheaded by the Department for, Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), was introduced as part of the Digital Economy Act in 2017. In the past weeks its delay has appeared inevitable with pornographers and regulators releasing almost no information about how exactly it will work.

In what's come to be known as the 'UK porn block', three of the largest porn websites in the UK haven't been able to confirm how they will implement age verification. One of the world's biggest pornography companies has only released limited details of how its age checker will work.

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Under the law, pornography websites are expected to start using software, most likely from third-parties, to check whether someone is old enough to view the content. The UK government hasn't recommended one piece of software that should be used but said it will leave this to the "industry".

A number of options are being developed but MindGeek – which owns Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn and Playboy TV – has been the most proactive in pushing its tech. The company says its AgeID system will be made available for free to independent porn producers in the UK but other companies will have to pay for it. No details of how much AgeID will cost have revealed by MindGeek but it says websites with more visitors will have to pay higher charges.


Three online porn websites, ManyVids, xHamster, and BongaCams, which all feature in the UK's most visited websites say they will be using age verification technology but could not confirm which. Many other popular pornographic websites did not respond to WIRED's request for comment.

xHamster's vice president Alex Hawkins said the company would introduce age verification even though he has "deep concerns" about the law. "Unfortunately, we're wary of many of the systems being put forth as solutions, most of which are profit-based," Hawkins said. "We have received a lot of assurances, but so far the transparency has been lacking."

Before the delay, a spokesperson for BongaCams said it still planned on meeting the original deadline. Meanwhile, ManyVids’ chief operating officer Sed Dehan said it would add age verification but said it unclear how effective the technology would be. "In our digital era, sexual content is available everywhere," Dehan said. "We do understand the importance of ensuring that adult entertainment is made accessible to adults only. Only time will tell if this method will prove useful".

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Much of the uncertainty surrounding the new age verification requirements appears to be down to a lack of information. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will be responsible for ensuring adult websites have age verification checks and will have the power to fine those that don't. The government confirmed the BBFC would be responsible for age verification in December and it was formally approved by both the House of Commons and House of Lords in February.

Yet the BBFC hasn't issued any guidance to pornographers on how age verification tools will have to work. "We will therefore allow time for the BBFC as regulator to undertake a public consultation on its draft guidance which will be launched later this month," the DCMS said in its statement. Once this guidance has been publicly debated it will be approved by parliament. There will then be a three month period before it comes into force.

"As it currently stands, there has been no information formally provided about how [age verification] should work," Alex Haydock, a legal advisor at the Open Rights Group (ORG), said before the delay. The organisation has warned any databases of UK porn viewers' browsing habits or personal information would be vulnerable to hackers. "The providers of AV services have been left to implement their tools using only assumptions about what will be acceptable," says Haydock.


This lack of information has led to difficulties in creating any age verification systems. James Clark, a spokesperson for AgeID, says it is "impossible to finalise" its AgeID software until the final regulations and guidance are published. "We may test AgeID on a small sample of traffic prior to the law being enforced, but until we have final regulations, it’s impossible to do so," Clark says.

However, he adds that each pornography website will need to create a non-pornographic page that appears when it detects a person accessing it from the UK. "The user will then input their details through AgeID via an API, e.g. via a “Verify My Age” button," he says. AgeID wasn't able to provide any images of how its age-checker will look.

Haydock argues that if age verification has to happen then the remit of the BBFC should be extended to include privacy concerns around the software used to check ages. "The government had the opportunity to strictly regulate age verification tools when drafting the DE Act and chose to leave this to the market instead," he says. "This irresponsible move puts citizens’ data at risk and the Government are likely to suffer the blame if something goes wrong."