A pornography site that failed to introduce any age verification measures has been fined £630,000 by Ofcom, the regulator has announced. The operator of Fapello, which allowed UK visitors to access adult content without proving they were over 18, was hit with the penalty after a regulator investigation that opened in November. Since July 2025, sites offering porn have been legally required to use “highly effective” age assurance to prevent under-18s from viewing explicit material. But Ofcom said Fapello had not introduced any checks at all – and then failed to respond to the regulator’s requests for information on time.
“Age checks are no longer optional for porn sites in the UK,” said George Lusty, Ofcom’s director of enforcement. “They are a cornerstone of our laws to protect children from content they should not be seeing.” The fine comprised £600,000 for failing to implement age verification and an additional £30,000 for not supplying information when required. “Providers also need to know that if they don't supply accurate information to us on time, when we request it, they should expect to face enforcement action, including fines,” Lusty added.
“Ofcom fined Fapello operator £630,000 for failing to introduce age checks, the latest in a series of penalties.”
Since the investigation, Fapello has blocked UK visitors, but Ofcom says it will continue to monitor the site’s compliance. The fine is one of a series of penalties imposed by the regulator in recent months. In May, Ofcom fined porn company YoungTek Solutions £600,000 for similar failings. Before that, it levied a £1.35m fine on another adult site operator that had not introduced age checks. However, questions have been raised about whether monetary penalties alone are enough to secure compliance. In December, it emerged that Ofcom had never heard from a firm handed a £1m fine – though that company later began following the rules.
The regulator is also locked in an ongoing dispute with online message board 4chan over its refusal to pay a £520,000 fine. A lawyer for the firm has repeatedly mocked Ofcom’s threats of further fines or enforcement action by sending AI-generated cartoon images of hamsters. Ofcom has set out several acceptable methods for verifying users’ ages, including credit card checks, photo ID matching and estimating age from a selfie. It says whatever method platforms choose must be “technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair”.
On Thursday, the regulator announced it had opened a new investigation into another porn provider, Bit Hive, citing concern that one of its age check methods “may not be highly effective”.