LONDON — U.K. media regulator Ofcom on Thursday imposed a fine of 700,000 pounds (about $986,000) against adult website XGroovy for failing to comply with provisions of the Online Safety Act.
Ofcom began investigating XGroovy in September 2025. In June, 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 between July 2025 and November 2025.
Ofcom has now finalized that decision, fining XGroovy 700,000 pounds for not having age checks in place, plus 30,000 pounds for failing to respond on time to a legally binding information request.
Ofcom additionally plans to impose a daily penalty of 200 pounds per day until XGroovy provides the agency with the information it requested, or Nov. 3, whichever is sooner.
In a statement, Ofcom reported that after the agency instigated formal enforcement action against XGroovy, the site implemented age assurance measures, then geoblocked access from IP addresses in the U.K. so that it is no longer directly available to users there. However, the agency still imposed fines covering the earlier period of noncompliance.
Ofcom Director of Enforcement George Lusty said, “The message to adult websites is clear: put effective age checks in place to keep children from accessing porn. If companies fail to do this, or ignore legally binding requests from us, they should expect to face fines.”
In February, French media regulator Arcom similarly sent enforcement notices to the operators of XGroovy, contending that the site had failed to implement age verification as required under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.
Ofcom also issued a provisional notice of contravention on Thursday to ZD Media, which the agency lists as the operator of hello.porn, homo.xxx, max.porn, ok.porn, ok.xxx, perfectgirls.xxx, pin.porn, pornhat.com, pornhat.one and pornstars.tube. Updating an investigation initiated in September 2025, Ofcom stated that it has “reasonable grounds” to believe the site is in breach of its duties under the OSA. ZD Media will now have 20 working days to respond before Ofcom finalizes a decision.
