LONDON—Ofcom, the United Kingdom’s communications regulator, announced Tuesday that it has dropped its investigation into the parent company of OnlyFans. Last May, Ofcom said it opened an investigation into Fenix International Limited, the parent company, for not implementing age verification measures to ensure under-18s don’t access the platform.
An enforcement bulletin published by the agency at the time notes that “[t]he available evidence suggests that the information provided by OnlyFans in response … may not have been complete and accurate and that the age assurance measures it had taken may not have been implemented in such a way as to protect under-18s.”
“Where appropriate, Ofcom’s supervision team will continue to engage with OnlyFans around the way it implements measures to protect children from restricted material,” states the regulator’s website via coverage by news wire service Reuters.
Ofcom was empowered by the Online Safety Act to enforce national age verification for major adult platforms online, like Pornhub and xHamster. An Ofcom statement, again via Reuters, said, “We are making no findings on these issues [of AV] and should further information come to light, reserve our right to re-open this investigation.”
