March 27 (UPI) — British communications regulator Ofcom Thursday fined OnlyFans provider Fenix International Limited $1.36 million for failing to provide accurate information about age control measures for the adults-only sexually explicit platform.
Ofcom sought information from Fenix in June 2022 and June 2023 on age assurance measures, including the effectiveness of facial estimation tech used to verify those using OnlyFans were of adult age.
“When we use our statutory powers to request information from platforms, they are required, by law, to ensure it is complete, accurate and delivered to us on time,” Ofcom Enforcement Director Suzanne Cater said in a statement. “Receiving accurate and complete information is fundamental for Ofcom to do its job as a regulator and to understand and monitor how platforms are operating. We will hold platforms to high standards and will not hesitate to take enforcement action where we find failings.”
OnlyFans said in a statement that it “recognizes the importance of providing Ofcom with accurate and timely information.”
“We welcome the conclusion of this process and Ofcom’s previous decision to close their investigation into our age assurance measures,” it said.
The technology requires a user to submit a live selfie that is used to estimate the age of the user. Fenix told Ofcom that a “challenge age” for its facial age estimation technology was set at 23.
If the software estimates the user’s age at over the challenge age the user is allowed onto the platform. If not, a secondary age verification method is required.
According to Ofcom, Fenix learned in January 2024 that the challenge age was mistakenly set at 20. Ofcom subsequently found out that the age had been set at 20 since Nov. 1, 2021.
The regulator wasn’t notified of that error until Jan. 22, 2024.
“Taking all the evidence into account, our investigation concluded that Fenix contravened its duties to provide accurate and complete information to Ofcom in response to two statutory information requests,” Ofcom said in a statement.
“Our investigation raised a number of concerns, including that it took the company over 16 months to discover that it had provided Ofcom with inaccurate information.”
The fine was imposed under Britain’s Online Safety Act, which took effect March 17.
The new law targets online child sexual abuse material and provides fines up to $20 million or equal to 10% of the proceeds of offending companies.
The law also allows the government to sue to block any online platform violating the law from Britain.
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