LONDON — U.K media regulator Ofcom is encouraging all members of the adult industry, including companies, creators and other stakeholders, to provide feedback to establish new regulations on adult content accessible online in the realm under the recent Online Safety Act.
Ofcom has made the consultation public through its website. The deadline for responses is March 5 at 5 p.m. (GMT).
Ofcom will publish the results of the consultation — titled “Guidance for service providers publishing pornographic content” — as part of its work to establish the new OSA-compliant regulations.
“The Online Safety Act is clear that service providers publishing pornographic content online must implement age assurance which is highly effective at correctly determining whether or not a user is a child to prevent children from normally encountering their online pornographic content,” Ofcom stated.
The second of four major consultations conducted by Ofcom, the “Guidance for service providers publishing pornographic content” focuses on its draft guidance “to assist providers of online services that publish or display regulated provider pornographic content in complying with their age assurance and record-keeping duties under the Act.”
This “Guidance for service providers publishing pornographic content,” also known as “age assurance” or “Part 5” consultation, is different from the “illegal harms” consultation, which focuses on the new criminal offenses resulting from the OSA, some of which will affect adult websites. As XBIZ reported, the deadline for that separate “illegal harms” consultation is Feb. 23.
For the “Guidance for service providers publishing pornographic content” consultation, Ofcom has also published a simpler explainer for stakeholders.
To respond to the proposals in our consultation, stakeholders are instructed to download and complete the consultation response form and submit it to Part5Guidance@ofcom.org.uk, including any supporting information or evidence with the response.