U.K.'s Ofcom Accessed Porn 4,000 Times

LONDON — U.K. media regulator Ofcom has hit porn sites more than 4,000 times in the last 90 days, a think tank investigation has revealed.

Despite Ofcom’s explanation that the reason it logged in 4,234 adult-oriented hits since June 12 was in an effort to protect children from harmful material, watchdog Parliament Street questioned the figure and pointed to staff improprieties.

One member of staff at Ofcom has reportedly been dismissed in the last five years for computer misuse that constituted a “serious breach” of the regulator’s policies, according to Parliament Street. Another employee has been issued with a final written warning for downloading a film.

But Ofcom said neither of these cases related to adult material and said its IT systems captured a diverse range of content of “varying degrees of sexual explicitness,” which could range from The Sun newspaper’s topless page three pin-ups to “explicit pornographic content."

Ofcom further said that  “attempts” to access adult content could have been recorded when an unsuspected porn pop-up appears.

“Some websites are blocked due to them containing certain keywords related to ‘adult’ content — even though the website itself is not an ‘adult’ website — therefore some of the apparent attempts to access ‘adult’ material may be a result of a slightly overzealous security algorithm,” Ofcom, said.

But Steven George-Hilley, director of technology at the think tank said the data raised questions.

“Clearly Ofcom needs to get to grips with this problem to ensure staff know not to try and access explicit content online,” George-Hilley, said.

“As a taxpayer-funded regulator of offensive content, there should be stiff penalties in place for employees who breach corporation guidelines.”

An Ofcom spokesman said, “Ofcom has a statutory duty to protect children from adult content. This requires staff in a range of departments to legitimately access online adult material. The number of times staff have accessed online adult content is consistent with meeting this duty.

“For example, Ofcom’s duty to secure broadcasting standards requires us to access and review online content that is promoted on adult TV channels, to ensure compliance with relevant rules.

“Ofcom is on the board of the U.K. Council for Child Internet Safety, which aims to protect children from access to pornography. We have also been working to ensure that children are protected from pornographic material accessed from mobile devices. It is also important to note that Ofcom’s web filtering program captures images of nudity, such as someone wearing a swimsuit or page three, as well as pornographic content.”

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Texas Resumes AV Lawsuit Against Aylo Following SCOTUS Decision

A district court judge in Texas has unfrozen the state’s $1.6 million lawsuit against Aylo for allegedly failing to comply with age verification requirements, Bloomberg Law is reporting.

JuicyAds Wins Trademark Infringement Case Against Fraudulent Domain

JuicyAds has won its World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) case against a website using a similar domain to impersonate the company's site and defraud customers.

Anissa Kate, Jordan Starr Top AEBN for Q2 of 2025

AEBN has published its top-selling stars for the second quarter of 2025, with Anissa Kate landing atop the leaderboard for straight theaters and Jordan Starr heading up the gay rankings.

AEBN Reveals Eva Maxim as Top Trans Star for Q2 of 2025

AEBN has published its top trans stars list for the second quarter of 2025, with Eva Maxim landing atop the leaderboard.

France Reinstates Age Verification Rule for EU Sites

France’s highest court, the Council of State, on Tuesday reinstated age verification rules for EU-based sites under the country’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law, ruling in favor of the French government and against Hammy Media.

Whisper Fans Joins Pineapple Support as Supporter-Level Sponsor

Whisper Fans has joined the ranks of over 70 adult businesses and organizations committing funds and resources to Pineapple Support.

Utherverse Launches 'Red Light Center' Virtual World

Virtual reality and metaverse technology company Utherverse has launched its new virtual world, RedLightCenter.io.

European Commission Approves AV Guidelines, Unveils Prototype App

The European Commission on Monday released its final, approved guidelines for protecting minors online under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and made public a “white label” age verification app intended to help sites and platforms comply with age verification rules under the DSA.

Show More