The UK government is considering to implement plans that will mandate adult websites to ensure visitors to their site are over 18 years of age.
Adult websites, including pornographic and those selling guns and other age-restricted material, will be forced to implement the same software operated by the banks and credit card companies to check visitors to their sites are over 18.
The age-verification feature will ask for user’s credit card and debit card information, along with UK-approved companies such as PayPal and Visa to check age of users. The measures will be the same as the age check measures already carried out for anyone trying to use gambling websites.
The UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in working on the alleged plans with the Treasury minister Andrea Leadsom.
A DCMS spokesman said: ‘We take the issue of child safety online very seriously and have set out a series of robust measures, including family friendly filters, to help keep children safe online.’
‘We are always looking at ways to build on these measures to make children even safer.’
Although the new rules would only cover UK-based websites to begin with, but any other company looking to make money in Britain will need to implement the same age-verification measures.
The latest development comes in wake of a recent shocking study which revealed that one in every 20 visitors to adult sites is under 18 years of age. The study found that around 6 per cent of children aged 15 or under visited an adult website over the course of a month.
