Porn websites will have to carry out age checks in future to ensure children are unable to access their services, under proposals published today by Ofcom.

The Online Safety Act was passed in October to force porn sites and apps to introduce "highly effective" age checks amid concern about the harm being caused to youngsters who are encountering online pornographic content.

Research by the Children's Commissioner published in January found that the average age at which children in the UK encounter online pornography is 13, although for over a quarter (27%) this was 11.

Over three quarters (79%) had encountered violent pornography depicting coercive, degrading or pain-inducing sex acts before their 18th birthday. 

At the time, the Children's Commissioner said that "a lot of it is actually just abuse", and that she was "deeply concerned" about the "normalisation of sexual violence in online pornography, and the role that this plays in shaping children's understanding of sex and relationships".

Age checks proposed by Ofcom include bank information sharing, photo identification matching, facial age estimation, mobile network operator age checks, credit card checks, and digital identity wallets.

Ofcom warned that weaker age checks like self-declarations and online payment methods "won't be enough". 

"Pornography is too readily accessible to children online, and the new online safety laws are clear that must change," said Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes.

"Our practical guidance sets out a range of methods for highly effective age checks. We're clear that weaker methods – such as allowing users to self-declare their age – won't meet this standard.

"Regardless of their approach, we expect all services to offer robust protection to children from stumbling across pornography, and also to take care that privacy rights and freedoms for adults to access legal content are safeguarded."

An Ofcom survey found that most people (80%) were supportive of age checks to protect children.

The final guidance is expected to be published in early 2025, after which the government will bring it into force.

Welcoming the draft guidance, James Mildred at CARE, a Christian group which spent years campaigning for age checks, said, "We note this next step towards long overdue age verification measures that will prevent children from accessing pornography.

"It is vital that Ofcom gets this right. Porn use is linked to disturbing cases of sexual harassment in schools, and studies demonstrate its harmful impact on relationships and mental health.

"We are confident that age verification can be implemented in a measured way that protects the privacy of internet users. We will engage with the detail of Ofcom's proposed guidance and respond in due course."