LONDON—The United Kingdom's digital regulator, Ofcom, announced investigations into the parent companies of 34 pornography websites that lack age verification protocols that are compliant with the country's Online Safety Act.
In the press release published on Thursday, Ofcom identified 8579 LLC, AVS Group Ltd, Kick Online Entertainment S.A. and Trendio Ltd as non-compliant, prompting an enforcement investigation into the companies and their respective platforms.
Upon review, the vast majority of the 34 sites that lack age verification measures compliant with U.K. law are white-labeled tube sites cloned from a master script, which helps monetize traffic and affiliate revenue. For example, sites owned by AVS Group are cloned from a central script supported by an ad network called Tube Corporate.
Websites owned by 8579 LLC and Trendio Ltd are similar, all appearing similar in color codes, content and design. This is common for white-labeling practices.
Kick Online Entertainment S.A. is the controversial owner and operator of Motherless.com. Motherless is a tube site that has been central to several controversies related to content piracy, intellectual property theft, and the distribution of non-consensual images (revenge porn, CSAM, etc.).
Ofcom previously investigated Kick/Motherless for similar complaints, but also did not submit a record of its illegal content risk assessment (ICRA).
Under the Online Safety Act, online platforms that share "legal but harmful" content must implement a plan to counter CSAM, NCII and other criminal materials.
This time, Ofcom is going after Kick for not deploying age verification measures that are substantial in meeting its statutory obligations under the Online Safety Act.
"These companies have been prioritised based on the risk of harm posed by the services they operate and their user numbers," said Ofcom in a statement. "Collectively, these websites have over 9 million unique monthly U.K. visitors."
