UK residents who want to watch pornographic material on the internet may soon need to very their age via face scan.

UK regulator Ofcom announced a number of new recommendations including age verification by scanning users faces in an effort to help protect children from accessing online pornography.

The idea has not be warmly received, with explicit site Pornhub highlighting the user safety risk if they legally had to start collecting “highly sensitive personal information”.

Director of the sex education charity Sexpression, Jack Liepa, said, “Young people probably still will find ways to access this content: older siblings might provide access, and they’re still going to turn 18 and suddenly have access, at still quite a young impressionable age.”

According to a survey the average age at which young people are now being exposed to porn is 13.

The Online Safety Act, which will come into effect in 2025, requires social media platforms and search engines to protect children from harmful content online.

Suggested methods of age verification include government-issued ID checks, credit card and digital ID wallets. 

Companies who don’t comply will be served sizeable fines by Ofcom.