OnlyFans Fined for Inadequate Age Verification System
OnlyFans, a content subscription service headquartered in London, has been penalized with a $1 million fine by the United Kingdom's communications regulator, Office of Communications (Ofcom). The fine is in response to the company's use of a flawed age verification process.
Details on the Age Verification Flaws
The investigation by Ofcom revealed that OnlyFans' parent company, Fenix International, inaccurately represented the age threshold settings for new account creators on the platform. Although OnlyFans mandates that content posters be at least 18 years old, utilizing a live selfie and facial recognition technology to confirm age, discrepancies were found in the set age verification limits.
Reports from The Guardian noted that OnlyFans had initially claimed to configure their technology to affirm that users were at least 23 years old. However, Ofcom's findings showed that from 2021 to 2024, the platform had intermittently set this limit to between 20 and 21 years. This inconsistency reduced the age buffer intended to prevent under-18s from being inadvertently approved.
Consequences and Company Response
Following the imposition of the fine, OnlyFans articulated its intentions to revise and improve its age verification methods. In statements to The Guardian, the company highlighted its commitment to enforcing stringent age verification standards to ensure that all content creators on the platform satisfy the age requirements.
The company emphasized the significance of adhering to these practices as integral to the safety and compliance of their operational policies on the global platform. These adjustments are designed not only to rectify the identified issues but also to enhance the overall safety measures preventing underage users from accessing and creating content on OnlyFans.
