Websites hosting pornographic content must have age verification for UK users

the title is a statement by Ofcom, which is the Office of Communications, the UK's telecommunications regulator.

the statement says this will also apply to social media sites that allow pornography. i'm curious if that includes X.

they also say that facial age estimation will be an approved methodology. that strikes me a high potential solution that will be cheaper and faster than verified alternatives. however, i imagine it's also trivial to defeat and much less accurate.

Interesting that a lot of the world is moving in this direction at the same time. Is it just part of the broader conservative cultural shift?