OnlyFans mistake gave 14-year-olds easier access to pornography

Children as young as 14 were more likely to be able to access pornography on OnlyFans because of a coding error that weakened the site’s age checks. A facial analysis tool used by OnlyFans had an error rate almost seven times higher than it should have because it was incorrectly configured, according to data released by the maker of the software. Many more children would have been likely to pass verification checks wrongly as a result, the disclosure suggests. Ofcom announced an investigation into OnlyFans on Wednesday over concerns that the popular adult site had not done enough to enforce age checks meant to keep out under-18s. OnlyFans, which is mainly used by sex workers who produce pornography, uses an age verification tool called Yoti that scans people’s faces to estimate their age. Because the software has a margin of error, sites are encouraged to set the threshold well above the minimum age for accessing the site, which in OnlyFans’ case is 18. An error meant OnlyFans had set its age check at 20, rather than 23 as it had intended, the company said this week. According to a technical white paper from Yoti, 2.43pc of children aged between 14...

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