Ofcom fines porn company £800,000 for failing to introduce age checks

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Online safety Protecting children Illegal and harmful content News and updates News Published:
12 February 2026 Ofcom has today fined Kick Online Entertainment SA £800,000 for failing to put in place age checks to protect children from pornographic content.

Under the UK’s Online Safety Act, sites that allow pornographic material must use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from readily accessing that content.

Within days of this duty coming into force in July 2025, Ofcom launched investigations into the providers of dozens of adult sites, including Kick Online Entertainment SA. This website was based on its user numbers.

Following investigation, we have fined Kick Online Entertainment SA £800,000 for failing to comply with these age check requirements between 25 July and 29 December 2025. In response to Ofcom’s enforcement action, the company has since implemented a method of age assurance that is capable of being highly effective[1].

Ignoring information requests

Gathering accurate information from companies is fundamental to our job of making life safer online for people in the UK. These requests can help us to assess and monitor industry compliance with their safety duties, and firms are required, by law, to respond in an accurate, complete and timely way.

For failing to abide by these requirements, we have also fined Kick Online Entertainment SA £30,000. We will impose a daily penalty of £200 on the company until they respond, or for a period of 60 days, whichever is sooner.

Suzanne Cater, Director of Enforcement at Ofcom, said: “Having highly effective age checks on adult sites to protect children from pornographic content is non-negotiable. Any company that fails to meet this duty – or engage with us – can expect to face robust enforcement action, including significant fines.

“We continue to investigate other sites under the UK’s age check rules and will take further action where necessary.” ******

Notes to Editors

1. If a provider fails to pay a fine, Ofcom is entitled to seek recovery of those penalties. Where appropriate, if a provider fails to comply with a requirement to implement age assurance we can also seek a court order for ‘business disruption measures’, such as requiring payment providers or advertisers to withdraw their services from a platform, or requiring Internet Service Providers to block a site in the UK.
2. We have also today issued provisional decisions that Youngtek Solutions, 4chan and Im.ge have failed to comply with duties under the Online Safety Act. All three providers now have an opportunity to make representations to us before we make our final decisions. Additionally, we have expanded the scope of our ongoing investigations into four other porn companies – which collectively run 20 adult sites – to consider whether they have failed to adequately respond to our legally binding information requests.

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