LONDON — U.K. media regulator Ofcom on Thursday imposed a fine of 630,000 pounds (about $845,000) against adult website fapello.com for failing to comply with provisions of the Online Safety Act.
Ofcom began investigating Fapello in November, targeting the site in part because it appeared to have seen a significant increase in user traffic after age-check laws came into force, seemingly benefiting from a wave of users avoiding larger sites that had complied with the OSA’s age assurance mandate.
In May, the agency issued a provisional decision in the case, stating that it had “reasonable grounds” to believe the site was in breach of its duties under the OSA.
Ofcom has now finalized that decision, fining Fapello 600,000 pounds for not having age checks in place, plus 30,000 pounds for failing to respond on time to a legally binding information request.
In a statement, Ofcom reported that since the agency instigated formal enforcement action against Fapello, the site has geoblocked access from IP addresses in the U.K., so that it is no longer directly available to users there.
Ofcom Director of Enforcement George Lusty said, “Age checks are no longer optional for porn sites in the U.K. They are a cornerstone of our laws to protect children from content they should not be seeing. Providers also need to know that if they don’t supply accurate information to us on time, when we request it, they should expect to face enforcement action, including fines.”
Other Investigations
Ofcom has additionally now opened an investigation into Bit Hive, the provider of porn site eporner.com, to assess its compliance with age-check rules under the Online Safety Act, citing concerns that “one of the methods of age assurance Bit Hive has implemented may not be highly effective.”
The agency also announced that it is expanding the scope of its ongoing investigation into the provider of kemono.cr to consider whether it has failed to comply with requirements to respond to a request for information.
Last month, the agency imposed a fine of 80,000 pounds (more than $100,000) against First Time Videos, which operates FTVGirls.com and FTVMilfs.com, for failing to implement age checks required for compliance with the Online Safety Act.
