Ofcom Investigating OnlyFans Parent Company for AV Compliance

LONDON—Ofcom, the United Kingdom's communications regulator, today announced an investigation into London-based Fenix International Limited, the parent company of OnlyFans.com. Citing the Online Safety Act's age verification requirements, Ofcom said that Fenix may have failed to meet the regulatory burden to prevent minors from viewing age-restricted content. "[W]e have grounds to suspect the platform did not implement its age verification measures in such a way as to sufficiently protect under-18s from pornographic material," Ofcom said in a press statement. According to the agency, Fenix provided submissions covering the platform's rollout of age verification protocols after an official request from Ofcom officials. However, Ofcom said it is investigating whether "OnlyFans failed to comply with its duties to provide complete and accurate information in response to these statutory requests." An enforcement bulletin published by Ofcom today notes that "[t]he available evidence suggests that the information provided by OnlyFans in response ... may not have been complete and accurate and that the age assurance measures it had taken may not have been implemented in such a way as to protect under-18s from restricted material." Ofcom expects to conclude its investigation by August 2024. Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom was empowered to enforce age verification requirements for all web platforms that are based in the United Kingdom or have a large user base. OnlyFans is one of the largest premium social networks in the world, with millions of users and over 2 million content creators.  Age verification provider Yoti publishes marketing collateral featuring OnlyFans as a corporate customer of its age assurance products. A 2023 case study published on Yoti's corporate website featured comments by Fenix-OnlyFans chief executive officer Keily Blair touting the company's protocol to overhaul online child safety on the internet. "Ensuring our users are over 18 is a priority for OnlyFans and an important element of protecting our community," Blair said in the case study. "We work with Yoti because their market-leading age assurance technology provides the right balance between accurately assessing users’ ages and respecting their privacy.”  This Ofcom probe is the latest of several into the platform's operations. AVN reported that journalists for Reuters investigated OnlyFans, alleging shortcomings in its trust and safety programming. Lawmakers in the United States have also called for investigations into OnlyFans and its ownership.