Porn sites in UK will need to verify ages of their users

Porn websites in the UK will legally have to verify the age of their users under new laws.

The legislation - which forms part of the draft Online Safety Bill - looks to protect children from explicit material, with measures to make sure users are 18 or over.

The measures could include people needing to prove they own a credit card, or using a third party service to confirm their age.

Under the law, failure to act could see the sites fined 10% of their global turnover.

And Ofcom could block the sites from being accessible in the UK if they don't follow the rules.

It's expected the bill will be introduced to parliament in the coming months, after similar measures were proposed - but then dropped - three years ago.

Digital Economy Minister Chris Philp said: "Parents deserve peace of mind that their children are protected online from seeing things no child should see."

As quoted by the BBC, NSPCC's Andy Burrows added: "It's right the government has listened to calls to fix one of the gaps in the Online Safety Bill and protect children from pornography wherever it's hosted.

"Crucially, they have also acted on our concerns and closed the 'Only Fans loophole' that would have let some of the riskiest sites off the hook despite allowing children access to extremely damaging material.

"But the legislation still falls short of giving children comprehensive protection from preventable abuse and harmful content and needs significant strengthening to match the government's rhetoric and focus minds at the very top of tech companies on child safety."

© BANG Media International