Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many pornographic websites have been the subject of (1) regulatory inquiries, or (2) formal investigations by the Information Commissioner’s Office, regarding their use of children’s personal data, on the basis that they are likely to be accessed by minors, since the Age Appropriate Design Code came into force in September 2020.

Following publication of its “Likely to be accessed by children" guidance, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has worked with Ofcom and engaged with two pornographic website companies (Aylo and XHamster).

During the development of its guidance on the Age Appropriate Design Code, the ICO also worked with the content subscription service provider OnlyFans on how the code would impact their processing activities.

The ICO proactively reviewed the Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) for all three organisations, providing feedback where appropriate, and suggesting improvements in two cases. These were not formal investigations.