Pornhub and a number of other major adult websites have confirmed they will introduce enhanced age checks [age verification] for users from next month.
Parent company Aylo says it is bringing in “government approved age assurance methods” but has not yet revealed how it will require users to prove they are over 18.
Regulator Ofcom has previously said simply clicking a button, which is all the adult site currently requires, is not enough.
Ofcom said the changes would “bring pornography into line with how we treat adult services in the real world.”
The Online Safety Act requires adult sites to introduce “robust” age checking techniques by this summer.
Approved measures include demanding photo ID or running credit card checks before users can view sexually explicit material.
“Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren’t suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling,” said Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s group director of online safety, in a statement.
“For too long children have been only a click away from harmful pornography online.”
Mr Griffiths said assurances from Aylo and several other porn providers, including Stripchat and Streamate, regarding the introduction of new age checks showed “change is happening”.
The regulator said its recent research indicated 8% of children aged 8-14 in the UK had visited an online porn site or app over a 28-day period.
This included about 3% of eight to nine year olds, its survey suggests.
Derek Ray-Hill, interim chief executive at the Internet Watch Foundation, warned that children’s’ exposure to online porn at a very young age, or to violent sexual material, could normalise harmful behaviour offline. …