Ofcom has fined AVS Group Ltd £1 million under the Online Safety Act for not implementing highly effective age assurance on its 18 adult websites, and the company faces an additional £50,000 fine for ignoring Ofcom's information requests.Oliver Griffiths from Ofcom's Online Safety Group emphasized efforts to improve age verification and warned AVS Group to install a proper system within 72 hours or risk a daily penalty of £1,000.The
UK regulatory push mirrors similar age-check rules in the US,
France,
Italy,
Australia, and
China, with
Australia notably banning children under 16 from platforms like
Twitch and
YouTube.