Porn site faces being BLOCKED as watchdog launches probe into illegal content complaints
In serious cases, XXX platforms can now be blocked from the UK if owners are found to have broken tough new laws and fail to make drastic changes.
2
2
Regulator Ofcom says it is looking into whether the platform breached the UK's new online safety laws after bosses failed to respond to requests for key information.
The watchdog was prompted into action after receiving complaints about potential illegal content and activity, including child sexual abuse material and extreme pornography.
Two investigations are being carried out into the site's owner Kick Online Entertainment.
Ofcom had asked the company to provide a risk assessment over the potential for illegal content to appear on the porn site.
Due to Kick Online Entertainment's failure to respond, the regulator said it was now investigating whether the firm had not met legal requirements to complete and keep a record of an illegal content risk assessment - as well as failing to respond to an information request.
"In light of this, we will also be considering whether the provider has put appropriate safety measures in place to protect its UK users from illegal content and activity and may launch an additional investigation into its compliance with this duty if appropriate," Ofcom said.
The Online Safety Act was passed in 2023 in a bid to make the internet safer, particularly for children.
In March, the regulator kick-started a programme to check website operators are complying with their duties.
Under the law, Ofcom can impose hefty fines of up to £18million or 10 per cent of the a company's worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.
In serious cases, it can seek a court order requiring payment providers and advertisers to stop working on the platform.
First country in the world BANS social media for under-16s outlawing Instagram & TikTok in move that could sweep globe
It can even get internet service providers to block access to the site from being visible in the UK.
"We will now gather and analyse evidence to determine whether a contravention has occurred.
"If our assessment indicates a compliance failure, we will issue a provisional notice of contravention to the provider, who can then make representations on our findings, before we make our final decision.
"We will provide regular updates as these investigations progress."
What is the Online Safety Act?
The online safety act is a new set of duties that social media companies and search services have to comply with to operate in the UK.
Media regulator Ofcom is responsible for keeping relevant tech companies in check against the law.
Enforcement has been introduced in stages.
Platforms must protect users from a range of content, including child sexual abuse, fraud and terrorism.
And the sites must take steps to prevent children from accessing things like pornography or content that encourages suicide.
There are also offences that apply to individuals too, including:
encouraging or assisting serious self-harm
cyberflashing
sending false information intended to cause non-trivial harm
threatening communications
intimate image abuse
epilepsy trolling
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Pensioner, 81, loses 'ridiculous' £280,000 neighbour row over 'inches' of land... after seven years of fighting
A pensioner has lost a 'ridiculous' £280,000 legal battle against her neighbour over a just a few inches of land. Christel Naish, 81, and her doctor neighbour Jyotibala Patel had been fighting over an inches-wide strip between their houses too narrow for a person to comfortably walk down. Ms Naish complained that Dr Patel's garden tap and pipe were 'trespassing' on her property in Ilford, east London and after several rounds of litigation, brought her case before the High Court. Senior Judge Sir Anthony Mann said in the High Court that the offending strip of land was 'not worth arguing about' and criticised Ms Naish for 'bringing litigation in to disrepute'. The decision marks the end of an seven-year legal battle started by Ms Naish after she returned to the property in 2001 following her father's death. It comes after a trial at Mayors and City County Court in central London, which last year ruled in Dr Patel's favour on the boundary issue - landing Ms Naish with more than £200,000 in lawyers' bills. Following the trial, the pensioner had been told to pay for 65 per cent of her neighbours' costs - amounting to about £100,000 - on top of the six-figure sum she ran up herself. The appeal is costing more than £30,000, the High Court heard, and Ms Naish's lawyers say there could be 'another £200,000' spent on a second trial if she succeeds. At the High Court, Sir Anthony criticised the parties for the 'ridiculous' row after hearing the tap and pipe issue which began the dispute did not even matter any more - with the tap having now been removed by Dr Patel. He told Ms Naish's lawyers: 'Hundreds of thousands of pounds about a tap and a pipe that doesn't matter - this brings litigation into disrepute. 'You don't care about the pipe and the tap, so why does it matter, for goodness' sake, where the boundary lies? It seems to me to be a ridiculous piece of litigation - on both sides, no doubt.' The court heard Ms Naish first moved into her semi-detached house as a teenager with her parents and, although she moved out, frequently returned as she worked from there in the family's tarmac business. She eventually moved back permanently after the death of her father in 2001, with Dr Patel and husband Vasos Vassili buying the house next door for £450,000 in 2013. The couple's barrister Paul Wilmshurst told the judge the dispute began due to Ms Naish complaining a tap and pipe outside their house trespassed on her land. He accused her of 'terrorising' the couple with 'petty and vindictive' complaints and that they felt forced to sue due to the 'blight' on their home's value caused by the unresolved row. At the county court, they said they owned the tiny gap between the houses created when previous occupants built an extension on a much wider gap in 1983. They insisted the boundary between the two properties was the flank wall of Ms Naish's house and not the edge of her guttering hanging above, as she claimed. After hearing the trial in 2023, Judge Stephen Hellman last year found for Dr Patel and Mr Vassili, ruling that Ms Naish's flank wall was the boundary and the couple owned the gap between the houses. However, he found against them on Ms Naish's counter-claim, under which she sought damages for damp ingress into her conservatory caused by the couple having installed decking above the level of her damp-proof course. The judge found that, although the damp problem was already in existence, the installation of the decking screed was a 20 per cent contribution to it and he awarded Ms Naish £1,226 in damages. But because he had found against her on who owns the gap between the houses, he ordered she pay 65 per cent of her neighbours' lawyers' bills. Concluding his judgment, he said: 'Now that the parties have the benefit of a judgment on the various issues that have been troubling them, I hope that tensions will subside and that they will be able to live together as good neighbours.' Ms Naish has continued to fight and took her case to the High Court for an appeal last week, with judge Sir Anthony asking why the neighbours were pressing on and demanding of Ms Naish's barrister David Mayall: 'What is the point of this litigation?' Mr Mayall replied: 'To be frank, two things - costs and the damp issue.' Dr Patel's barrister Mr Wilmshurst said the couple felt they had to fight to protect the value of their home. He added: 'It's because for many years the appellant has been making allegations about the trespassing nature of the [tap and pipe], thereby making it impossible for them to sell their house.' For Ms Naish, Mr Mayall argued that Judge Hellman's reasoning in finding that the boundary was the flank wall was 'fatally flawed' and should be overturned - although he noted a second trial in the event of a successful appeal would cost the parties 'another £200,000'. Mr Mayall said any 'reasonable purchaser' looking at the houses when they were first built and conveyed in the 1950s would have assumed that the boundary was the edge of Ms Naish's guttering, giving her a few inches of extra land. He added: 'The only proper conclusion that he could have come to when construing the original conveyance was that the boundary ran along the outermost part of the house as constructed, including the eaves, guttering and foundations.' For Dr Patel, who appeared in court, and Mr Vassili, who watched via a video link, Mr Wilmshurst said the appeal was a challenge to findings the judge was entitled to make on the evidence. He said: 'Overall, the judge did not overlook the contention of the appellant as to guttering, eaves and foundations - he considered it directly, evaluated it, and rejected it as being material to where the boundary was. 'The judge correctly held that the legal boundary was shown by the conveyance plans as running along the flank wall of [Ms Naish's house], not the outermost projection.' On the issue of what contribution to Ms Naish's damp her neighbours' decking screed caused, he added: 'There is no basis on which it can be properly said that the judge was wrong to find the concrete screed was only responsible for 20 per cent of the damp problems. 'The judge also carried out a site view and was in the best position to form an assessment of the evidence.' After a day in court, Sir Anthony reserved judgement on the appeal.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Tragic 15-year-old schoolboy took his own life with father's shotgun amid a 'perfect storm' of exam stress, breakup with girlfriend and struggles with ADHD, inquest hears
A private school pupil killed himself with his father's shotgun after a 'perfect storm' of GCSE stress, breaking up with his girlfriend and ADHD, an inquest heard. Jairus Earl was found by his father Philip in his office at their Dorset holiday home as they prepared to return to London for the 15-year-old to start his exams. The family had gone to their cottage near Sherborne for the Easter holidays to destress and took some shotguns with them for clay pigeon shooting. The inquest heard Jairus, who was feeling anxious and negative about his GCSEs, spent the mornings revising and did shooting and fly fishing with his father in the afternoons. But as they packed up the car to return home Jairus told his father he was going in to the toilet but instead went into the office where his father had his shotguns in cases. Mr Earl, a director of a construction company, was listening to music and so did not hear the gunshot but knew something was wrong when the family dog came out and 'looked very stressed'. Mr Earl, 56, went inside and found his son unresponsive in the office at about 3.45pm on April 14, 2024. Jairus was pronounced dead at the scene at 4pm. At his inquest the Dorset coroner Rachael Griffin raised concerns about possible gaps in gun licence laws that she will be making a prevention of future deaths report about to the government. While she recognised that Mr Earl was a responsible gun licence holder, she said there may be an issue about people keeping guns in second homes without the authorities knowing. She said there was also a concern about the lack of consideration for the mental health of other people in the same household as a licence holder. The Bournemouth inquest heard Jairus was 'very social and loved to have fun' but struggled with school and had been falling behind. He attended the £30,000-a-year Thames Christian School in Clapham, south London. He had been diagnosed with ADHD at 14 and was experiencing low mood and suicidal ideation but was seeing both a psychologist and a child psychiatrist in the months leading up to his death and his mood seemed to be improving. The family said Jairus had been affected by the Covid lockdowns, the first of which came when he was just two terms into secondary school and was 'extremely detrimental'. The Bournemouth inquest that Mr Earl's wife Sophie and daughter Lily had already returned to London by early April while he and Jairus stayed in Dorset for longer. Mr Earl said in a statement: 'In recent years things had become more stressful. He felt very negative about school, homework and exams. 'His self-esteem took a bad hit. He felt like no one believed in him or were on his side. 'He was facing GCSEs, which was overwhelming for him. He had concerns that he had been behind but wouldn't consider the possibility of repeating the year.' Mr Earl said he thought that pressure was a 'huge part of the final moment' and he was 'so triggered he made that terrible impulsive decision to take his life'. He added: 'The factors that collaborated to create a perfect storm were the breakdown of his relationship with his girlfriend, schooling and GCSEs, his struggle with ADHD and the fact it was coming with symptoms of depression and anxiety.' Ms Griffin recorded a verdict of suicide. She said: 'I have heard a wealth of evidence that indicates how much loved Jairus was. He was also a young man who in the later stages of his life was troubled. 'There is nothing in the evidence before me that indicates his father was anything but a responsible gun licence holder. 'Jairus said he was going to the toilet, that was sadly the last his father saw him alive. 'I don't know what happened from the moment Jairus' father last saw him and when he found him. There was no note left, no evidence of any messages or searching around what his intent might be. 'Jairus had a very good knowledge of guns…those that knew him best believe that he intended to end his life. 'I am satisfied he intended the consequences to be his own death.' Addressing her concerns about gun licence regulations, she said: 'I do have ongoing concerns about the lack of regulation, including the fact people may have a second residence where items are stored that may not be known to the authorities that needs to be known. 'When applications for licence are made at the moment there is no requirement to assess or access medical information for other persons residing in the property. 'I do intend to submit a report to the secretary of state for health and the Home Office to raise the concerns I have to the gaps in regulations.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Instant view: UK markets see 2022-style selloff as worries build over finance minister
LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - British government bond prices fell by the most since October 2022 and the pound tumbled on Wednesday, after finance minister Rachel Reeves appeared visibly distressed in parliament, a day after the government sharply scaled back plans to cut benefits. The yield on the 10-year government bond, or gilt, rose as much as 22 basis points on the day at one point to around 4.68% , as investors ditched UK debt. That would be the largest one-day jump in the British benchmark yield since October 2022, in the aftermath of then-Prime Minister Liz Truss' mini-budget that cost her premiership. The pound dropped by over 1% to $1.3589 , while domestic mid-cap stocks tumbled (.FTMC), opens new tab. COMMENTS: LINDSAY JAMES, INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, QUILTER, LONDON: "The spike in gilt yields is seemingly a response to signals that have been taken by some to suggest that Rachel Reeves' job may be at risk – though the government has since said her tearful appearance in this afternoon's PMQ's was due to a personal matter. The rise in yields implies investors would be nervous if she were to go. Despite the regular criticism levied in her direction, unwavering commitment to her fiscal rules have generally been welcomed - in sharp contrast to the unfunded pledges from the Truss government. A sudden departure would be likely to prompt questions about the government's commitment to this approach, particularly in light of the recent U turn on planned cuts to welfare spending." MOHIT KUMAR, CHIEF FINANCIAL ECONOMIST EUROPE, JEFFERIES, LONDON: "The UK government faces a difficult choice. We have a negative view on the UK fiscal picture. Our view of growth is much lower than the official OBR forecasts (we are looking at 1-1.2% growth in the UK for the next three years, vs 1.7-1.9% which is the OBR forecasts). Lower growth will make the Chancellor's fiscal plans unrealistic. Even if we get higher taxes, we do not think that raising taxes will give as much revenue as the government would be hoping for. Thus the government would need hard choices in order to bring the deficit picture in line. Recent market reaction reflects the market concerns on the credibility of the government to bring down fiscal deficits." GORDON SHANNON, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, TWENTYFOUR ASSET MANAGEMENT, LONDON: "(The welfare U-turn) is signalling that the Labour Party is a lot less concerned about what the gilt market thinks." "I would have thought it was seared into politicians' memories what happened to Liz Truss." "I continue to view it as you've breached your own commitments and that sets fire to your credibility in a world where there is increasing focus on the solvency positions of governments." CHRIS SCICLUNA, HEAD OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, DAIWA CAPITAL MARKETS, LONDON: "Clearly the market is revaluating the outlook for fiscal policy and hence the significant steepening in the gilt curve. The vote in the House of Commons gives reason to think again about the likely outlook for public borrowing. "The market has understood for some time that the government was off track on borrowing and was anticipating corrective measures in the budget but if markets continue to move in the direction we see today, it might have to make some announcements on the revenue side than on public expenditure cuts. "The BoE is obviously reviewing QT and they will probably bring an end to asset sales in the autumn." JANE FOLEY, SENIOR FX STRATEGIST, RABOBANK, LONDON: "Since the savings from welfare reform that Chancellor Reeves had pencilled in have now evaporated, UK budget issues are back in the fore. The gilt curve steepened at the open this morning as concerns about supply returned. In addition, the UK press is speculating that a cabinet reshuffle could be in the pipeline. Some of this has hinted that Starmer could even replace Reeves as Chancellor." NEIL WILSON, UK INVESTOR STRATEGIST AT SAXOBANK, LONDON: "Gilt yields were moving up but started to spike during (Prime Minister's Questions) as Reeves looked utterly shaken." KATHLEEN BROOKS, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, XTB, LONDON: "The prospect of political turmoil is causing bond yields to rise. The market is pricing in the possibility of a replacement chancellor with a more left-leaning agenda, which is spooking the bond market and waking up the bond vigilantes from their slumber." DANNI HEWSON, HEAD OF FINANCIAL ANALYSIS, AJ BELL, LONDON: "It's about Rachel Reeves finding herself in a very difficult situation following a series of U-turns, which means that the savings that had been anticipated from the winter fuel payments and from the disabilities changes - well, they're not going to be had. And that leaves her with another black hole and the question now is, how does she deal with that? And of course, there's an awful lot of speculation that she will have to increase taxes, but if she were to do that after saying that she wasn't going to, then that is politically difficult for the Labour government. What's gone on in Parliament today has absolutely unsettled (investors)"
