LONDON—The United Kingdom's digital regulator, Ofcom, appears to have hired British social media influencers to sell consumers and other stakeholders on the requirement for age verification targeting adult entertainment platforms and similar websites.
The Telegraph reports that celebrities like reality star Olivia Bentley are being paid by Ofcom to promote its age verification rules. According to the U.K.-based outlet, the regulator chose to post on social media in support of the age verification strategies that were central elements to the highly controversial Online Safety Act that passed in 2023.
Bentley posted a sponsored post seen by hundreds of thousands of her followers on Instagram visually corellating pornography to alcohol.
The video features Bentley entering her home, removing her top just out of view of the camera, then taking a can of beer from a fridge. The can of beer is labeled with the term "pornography."
"Hopefully I've now got your attention," she says while appearing on camera, fully clothed. "Just like this pornography beer, as of the 25th of July, you will need to prove that you are over 18 to be able to get served pornography online. ... It's almost as if the internet is finally growing up."
Ofcom has demonstrated immense power, granted to it by the Online Safety Act, in regulating adult entertainment platforms and other mainstream social networks.
AVN has reported extensively on Ofcom's enforcement actions and promulgation of age verification and online safety regulations.
