Ofcom has fined Fenix International Limited, provider of OnlyFans, £1.05m for providing inaccurate information about its age verification measures in response to statutory information requests made in June 2022 and June 2023. The company incorrectly reported its facial age estimation technology's challenge age as 23 when it was actually set to 20. The penalty, announced on 27 March 2025, includes a 30% reduction following Fenix's acceptance of findings. The investigation began on 1 May 2024 after Fenix disclosed the error to Ofcom on 22 January 2024, more than two weeks after discovering it.

Ofcom has fined social media application TikTok for failing to accurately respond to a formal request for information about its parental controls’ safety feature. TikTok responded to Ofcom's information request on 4 September 2023 but on 1 December 2023 the company highlighted that the data it had provided was not accurate and that it was conducting an internal investigation to understand the root cause of its inaccuracies. Given this disclosure, Ofcom launched an investigation on 14 December 2023 into whether the company had failed to comply with its duties to respond to a statutory demand for information. The investigation exposed some failings in TikTok’s data governance processes. For instance, not only did the company have insufficient checks in place leading to an inaccurate data submission to Ofcom in the first place, but TikTok was also slow in bringing the error to Ofcom's attention or to remedy the issue. TikTok ultimately provided accurate, albeit partial, data to the request for information on 28 March 2024. Ofcom's investigation concluded that TikTok failed to fully cooperate with Ofcom’s statutory request for information and with Ofcom's work in producing the Child Safety Report. As such, the company contravened its duties under the Communications Act 2003 (as the request pre-dated the Online Safety Act 2023). Factors that Ofcom considered when considering the penalty amount include the fact that TikTok is a large, well-resourced company, which is aware of its regulatory obligations, the fact that the data inaccuracies and delays had a direct impact on Ofcom's regulatory work, and the fact that this is the first time that TikTok has been found in breach of Ofcom's rules. The penalty includes a 25% reduction as a result of TikTok accepting Ofcom's findings and settling the case.

Ofcom has imposed a £23.8m penalty on Virgin Media for breaching consumer protection rules during its analogue-to-digital landline migration programme between August 2022 and December 2023. The regulator found Virgin Media failed to properly identify telecare customers and disconnected vulnerable users despite knowing the safety risks, violating General Condition C5.2 requiring fair treatment of vulnerable consumers. Virgin Media admitted liability, received a 30% settlement discount, and has implemented new safeguards.

Ofcom has fined Virgin Media £28 million after finding that the company breached its consumer protection rules by making it unreasonably difficult for customers to cancel their contracts between 1 January 2022 and 11 September 2024. Following an investigation prompted by customer complaints, Ofcom concluded that Virgin Media’s contract termination procedures and call handling practices likely delayed or prevented customers on millions of calls from switching to competing providers. Ofcom found that the company operated a two-tier cancellation process requiring many customers to repeat cancellation requests and that agents engaged in practices including unnecessary call transfers, excessive use of hold, repeated attempts to retain customers, deliberate call disconnections and failures to process cancellations. Ofcom said these behaviours were encouraged by Virgin Media’s commission scheme and enabled by inadequate training, quality assurance and oversight.

The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has fined an unnamed file-sharing service £20,000 under the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) for failing to respond to two statutory information requests concerning child sexual abuse material risk assessments and revenue data. In addition, Ofcom will impose daily penalties of £100 commencing on 18 December 2025 for up to 60 days until compliance is achieved. Ofcom also confirmed that AVS Group Ltd has implemented new age assurance processes across all 18 adult websites currently under investigation, following a previous £1m fine for inadequate age verification.

Ofcom has fined pornography provider Youngtek Solutions Ltd £600,000 for breaching requirements under the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023), including £500,000 for failing to implement age assurance measures on four adult websites and £100,000 for failing to respond within the required timeframe to a formal information request from Ofcom.

Ofcom has fined the provider of Xgroovy.com £700,000 for failing to comply with its duties under the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing pornographic content. The provider was fined a further £30,000 for failing to respond to a legally binding information request during Ofcom’s investigation. Ofcom will also impose a daily penalty of £200 until the information is provided or 3 November 2026, whichever is sooner. The provider of Xgroovy.com has since introduced a form of age assurance capable of being highly effective and subsequently geoblocked access from UK IP addresses. Separately, following compliance remediation action under Ofcom’s enforcement programme concerning file-sharing services, the provider of another file-sharing site has revised its risk assessment and taken steps to introduce perceptual hash matching to mitigate the risk of child sexual abuse material being shared. Ofcom has also issued provisional decisions that Cyberitic, LLC and ZD Media have failed to comply with age-check duties under OSA 2023. Both providers may make representations to Ofcom before it reaches its final decisions.

Ofcom has fined the provider of fapello.com £630,000 for failing to comply with its duty under the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) to use effective age checks to determine whether users are over 18 and prevent children from readily accessing pornographic content. The penalty comprises £600,000 for the age verification breach and a further £30,000 for failing to respond to a legally binding information request on time. The provider has since geoblocked access from UK IP addresses. Ofcom has also opened an investigation into Bit Hive, the provider of porn site eporner.com, over concerns that one of its age assurance methods may not be highly effective. In addition, Ofcom has expanded the scope of its existing investigation into the provider of kemono.cr to consider potential non-compliance with requirements to respond to a legally binding request for information.

Ofcom has fined the provider of an online suicide forum £950,000 after finding breaches of duties under the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) relating to illegal content encouraging or assisting suicide. Ofcom states that the forum, which has reportedly been linked to more than 130 deaths in the UK, failed to remove illegal suicide-related material and remained accessible in the UK despite measures intended to block UK users.

Ofcom has imposed a total fine of £375,000 on the religious channel the Word Network for multiple breaches of broadcasting rules. The penalties arise from investigations into programmes broadcast between July 2023 and May 2024, including ‘Stem Cell Activators’ and various episodes of ‘Peter Popoff Ministries’, following viewer complaints and routine monitoring. Ofcom concluded that these programmes made unsubstantiated claims that serious medical conditions could be treated using certain unlicensed products or by contacting a religious ministry, and that financial difficulties could be alleviated through similar means. It also concluded that the Word Network failed to adequately protect viewers from harm. The fines comprise £50,000 for the ‘Stem Cell Activators’ broadcast and £150,000 and £175,000, respectively, for the ‘Peter Popoff Ministries’ broadcasts in December 2023 and May 2024.

Ofcom has launched a further consultation on pricing remedies in the Wholesale Local Access (WLA) market as part of its Telecoms Access Review for the 2026–31 period. This follows Ofcom’s March 2025 proposals, which included charge controls aimed at maintaining pricing stability for 80/20 broadband products in both competitive and non-competitive areas. Responses are sought by 17 November 2025.

Ofcom has introduced new regulations requiring telecoms providers to clearly state any price rises in pounds and pence at the point of sale. The regulator has banned contract terms linking increases to future inflation rates, mandating transparency on when changes will occur. Providers offering unspecified price rises must give customers 30 days' notice and penalty-free exit options. Ofcom emphasises that social tariffs remain available for low-income households, offering stable pricing throughout the contract period. These measures aim to enhance consumer protection and facilitate informed decision-making in the UK's competitive telecoms market.