Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what powers the proposed Online Safety Bill will give Ofcom (1) to investigate adult services' implementation of robust age verification, and (2) to take enforcement action where necessary.

The Online Safety Bill, introduced to Parliament on 17 March 2022, places duties on providers which publish or place pornographic content on their services to prevent children from accessing that content. The Online Safety Bill will not mandate the use of specific technologies to comply with their new duties, as it is vital that the Bill is future-proofed. However, it is expected that companies may use age verification technologies to prevent children from accessing online pornography.

The Bill will also give Ofcom powers to investigate potential non-compliance with the new regime, for example a failure to sufficiently prevent children from accessing pornographic content. This includes information-gathering powers. Ofcom will also be able to require individuals to attend an interview when investigating possible non-compliance.

The Bill also provides Ofcom with robust enforcement powers to take action when platforms do not comply with their obligations, including requiring improvements, imposing substantial fines, and pursuing business disruption measures (including blocking).