Government reveals exact date Brits will need ID to access Pornhub

A date has been set.

Porn sites across the UK will soon be forced to ID users before allowing them access to their content.

The rule is aimed to prevent children being exposed to pornographic content.

Now, late July has been set as the deadline for these sites to introduce the age checks.

It is expected that the sites could use open banking, Photo-ID matching, facial age estimation, mobile-network operator age checks, email-based age estimation or digital ID services to mandate site access.

Failure to do so could result in serious fines up to £18 million or 10 percent of global revenue.

Additionally, Ofcom have sent out a letters to 'hundreds' of services, making it clear that the 'mandatory age-checks' must to be implemented.

Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom's chief executive said: "For too long, many online services which allow porn and other harmful material have ignored the fact that children are accessing their services.

"Either they don't ask or, when they do, the checks are minimal and easy to avoid. 

"That means companies have effectively been treating all users as if they're adults, leaving children potentially exposed to porn and other types of harmful content. Today, this starts to change."

The new details are included in the latest round of industry guidance, ahead of the enforcement of the Online Safety Act.

Under the Online Safety Act, all social media and search services were required to carry out a children's access assessment to determine if their site is likely to be accessed by children by last week.

Ofcom said it will then publish codes of practice for sites that are likely to be accessed by children, which will set out how they can implement measures to keep younger users safe. 

Sites must then complete a children's risk assessment by July and implement any required measures, which may include age checks.

Regardless of the type of site, if it allows pornography, these checks will be required.

Dame Melanie said: "As age checks start to roll out in the coming months, adults will start to notice a difference in how they access certain online services.

"Services which host their own pornography must start to introduce age checks immediately, while other user-to-user services – including social media – which allow pornography and certain other types of content harmful to children will have to follow suit by July at the latest."

She warned that Ofcom would be monitoring the response from industry closely and companies failing to meet the new requirements will face enforcement action.