Censor Watch

T he British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has published its Annual Report for 2024, marking a 112-year-record for cinema film submissions. The report reveals significant achievements in advancing audience protection and delivering trusted age ratings across cinema, packaged media and video on demand (VOD) and streaming services, as well as pioneering developments in the use of AI for content classification.

Cinema classifications

In 2024, the BBFC classified 1,256 feature films for cinema, a 13% increase from 2023, and the highest number of submissions in the organisation's history. As in previous years, the most frequently issued age rating was 15, which was applied to 41% of cinema submissions. In contrast, the 18 classification was issued to 4% of all cinema films, remaining the least common rating.

The increase came as the BBFC implemented revised Classification Guidelines in May 2024. Shaped by extensive feedback from 12,000 people across the UK, these updated Guidelines reflect shifts in audience expectations, particularly regarding the classification of sex scenes at the 12/15 border, violence across the categories, and certain depictions of drug misuse. Participants reported depictions of sexual violence as their primary concern, followed by scenes of suicide and self-harm. Additionally, this research highlighted parents' worries about the potential normalisation of bad language for young children, especially terms with sexual or misogynistic connotations.

The Guidelines research also found that BBFC age ratings remain trusted and valued by audiences, with 97% of respondents seeing a benefit to age ratings, and 90% of parents saying that they trust BBFC age ratings all or most of the time. This research is carried out every four to five years to ensure BBFC standards continue to reflect UK audience expectations.

Packaged media

While total packaged media submissions (DVD and Blu-ray) marginally declined by 1% year-on-year, the total number of minutes classified increased by 11%, reaching 176,004 in 2024, up from 158,159 in 2023. This growth was driven by a remarkable surge in anime titles, which accounted for 38% of all packaged media classifications in 2024 203 up from 25% the previous year.

Partnerships with VOD and streaming services

As part of the BBFC's mission to protect audiences and help them make informed viewing decisions, the BBFC continued to work to extend the use of its trusted age ratings on VOD and streaming services. In 2024, the BBFC worked with 35 VOD platforms and strengthened its partnerships with the UK's leading services. Last July, the BBFC announced a four-year extension of its self-rating partnership with Netflix through to 2028, meaning that Netflix will continue to carry BBFC age ratings and content advice on 100% of its UK catalogue for years to come.

The partnership, which began in 2019, allows Netflix to generate age ratings and content advice in line with BBFC standards, ensuring that its UK users have access to trusted guidance when choosing what to watch. BBFC age ratings also power Netflix's parental controls, allowing parents to limit their children's access to age-inappropriate content.

In September 2024, the BBFC announced the commencement of a pilot to establish a new self-rating partnership with Prime Video. Following the successful completion of the pilot in July 2025, Prime Video can now generate BBFC age ratings and content advice in-house, marking a major step forward in delivering clarity and protection to UK audiences. With Ofcom's forthcoming video-on-demand code on the horizon, these voluntary, best practice partnerships reflect a shared commitment to empower viewers with reliable, transparent age ratings while safeguarding children from potentially harmful content. They also address consumer demand, as according to BBFC Guidelines research, 81% of people want streaming content to be classified in line with the same standards used for cinema and packaged media.

AI and technological innovation

In 2024, the BBFC advanced its AI-powered compliance tool, CLEARD, and established BBFC Technology, a dedicated new entity to support this innovation. CLEARD has been developed in collaboration with international regulators and partners to make it easier for digital platforms to adopt BBFC age ratings quickly, accurately, and at scale. Combining compliance data with AI and machine-learning algorithms, CLEARD generates trusted, localised age ratings and content advice for use on VOD and streaming services across multiple countries from a single human compliance viewing. This means more trusted BBFC age ratings for UK audiences on more online platforms.

BBFC Technology's development of CLEARD reflects the BBFC's ongoing commitment to supporting the film and TV industry in line with its core mission of empowering UK audiences to make informed viewing decisions. This initiative will not only make BBFC age ratings more cost-effective and accessible for streaming services, but any revenue generated will be reinvested into the BBFC's statutory classification services, ultimately helping to reduce the cost of classification for the film and entertainment industry.

Natasha Kaplinsky OBE, President of the British Board of Film Classification, said:

2024 was the BBFC's 112th year of helping people across the UK view what's right for them 203 and what a remarkable year it was. We classified more cinema features than ever before, and we have made significant progress towards extending the coverage of trusted BBFC age ratings on streaming services through new deals with Prime Video and Netflix. We launched our revised Classification Guidelines 203 ensuring that the standards we apply when classifying content continue to reflect the views of UK audiences. Perhaps most exciting of all, we have continued our pioneering work with AI, ensuring that the BBFC remains at the forefront of film and digital content regulation. It has been a genuine privilege to lead the organisation at such an exciting and transformative time.

David Austin OBE, Chief Executive of the British Board of Film Classification, added:

Once again, 2024 has demonstrated the film industry's resilience and adaptability in the face of ongoing challenges. Despite disruptions to the release schedule caused by Hollywood strikes in 2023, as well as the sad news of cinema closures across the UK, it was encouraging to see such a rich and diverse selection of films reaching UK screens. From Deadpool & Wolverine to Wicked, All of Us Strangers to The Substance, 2024 offered plenty to remind us all of why we love going to the cinema. The year also saw an increase in the volume of content submitted to the BBFC for classification. We classified a total of 1,256 cinema features across 2024, which marks an all-time record and demonstrates that after more than a century of content classification, the BBFC's work remains just as vital as ever.

So most of the major tube sites have decided to implement ID verification for UK viewers. But thankfully there are still plenty of options of websites that have not yet implemented ID verification requirements. Here is a useful list of porn sites to try to find those not inflicting ID verification: toppornsites.com .

For viewers stupidly subscribing to the risk of handing over ID to watch porn I noted that many websites were promising to not keep a copy of ID data provided for verification purposes and then immediately demanding an email address that will be kept for furture visits. Surely an email address is a key piece of identity data that should not be retained.

Surely a better idea is purchase a VPN and access porn as if in a different country from the UK. For the moment all the major porn sites stil allow access via VPN. Perhaps one day this will not be 5the case when ID verification is adopted worldwide. Also not that it is up to websites whether they allow access via VPN or not. Under threat of extreme punishment they could reasonably easily one day block access from VPNs. (as the likes of BBC and Netflix already do).

Another option is to install a tor browser (the onion ring I think). See torproject.org . This is a browser that looks bery much like Firefox but obtains page data via  complicated and encrypted routing that evades censorship and country specific blocking. It is not quite as 100% succesful as a VPN but can be used to watch porn on the main porn websites.

But of course the authorities will not be very pleased by these straightforward workarounds, and they have put in place a censorship rule to prevent adult websites from themselves promoting workarounds. According to Ofcom and the BBC, platforms must not host, share or permit content that encourages the use of VPNs to get around age checks and it will be illegal for them to do so.

An Aylo spokesperson, the parent company of Pornhub said parents are advised to block VPN usage just in case, and  told the BBC that the question of VPNs was an issue for governments, adding:

We certainly do not recommend that anyone uses technology to bypass the law.'

Aylo has publicly called for effective and enforceable age assurance solutions that protect minors online, while ensuring the safety and privacy of all users. The United Kingdom is the first country to present these same priorities demonstrably

Thankfully such censorship laws simply don't apply to websites out of Ofcom's remit so there will surely be plenty of sources of information available to workaround the dangers of ID verification for porn.

 

Update: VPNs galore

27th July 2025. From the Financial Times

The Financial Times has reported on the inevitably booming sales and downloads  of VPNs.

Proton VPN has leapfrogged ChatGPT to become the top free app in the UK, according to Apple. Proton VPN has experienced a 1800% increase in daily UK. sign-ups. NordVPN has seen 1000% increase in UK purchases.

A Proton spokesperson told Mashable:

This clearly shows that adults are concerned about the impact universal age verification laws will have on their privacy.

A dating safety app that allows women to do background checks on men and anonymously share red flag behaviour has been hacked, exposing thousands of members' images, posts and comments.

Tea Dating Advice, a US-based women-only app with 1.6 million users, said there had been unauthorised access to 72,000 images submitted by women. Some included images of women holding photo identification for verification purposes, which Tea's own privacy policy promises are deleted immediately after authentication.

The company also admitted that an additional 59,000 images from the app showing posts, comments and direct messages from over two years ago were accessed.

Ofcom has published a statement detailing how they will expect larger websites to report on how they have applied censorship rules to user content. Ofcom writes:

The decisions explained in this statement set out our final positions on our guidance on transparency reporting. Our final guidance explains when and how Ofcom will exercise its transparency powers. It is designed to provide stakeholders with information about how the transparency reporting process under the online safety regime will work in practice, including the factors Ofcom will consider when deciding what information providers must publish in their reports, how we will produce our own Ofcom transparency reports and how we will engage with stakeholders throughout the process.

The Online Safety Act makes platforms -- including social media, search, and pornography services -- legally responsible for keeping people, especially children, safe online. Certain duties in the Act apply to all regulated services, while a set of additional duties apply only to certain services. The duty to publish transparency reports only applies to providers of certain regulated services, specifically those that appear on a public register of categorised services prepared by Ofcom.

Categorised services will have to publish transparency reports according to requirements that are set out by Ofcom in transparency notices. Our draft guidance lays out our proposed approach to determining what information relevant services are required to publish in their reports, as well as information about how we will engage with services throughout the reporting process.

Ofcom is also required to produce its own transparency report that draws conclusions based on the substance of the reports produced by providers. Our draft guidance presents our proposed approach to using information from service providers transparency reports in our own report.

The terrorism arrest of a man for holding up a Private Eye cartoon during a protest at the weekend was mind-boggling, the magazines editor, Ian Hislop , has said, as the retired teacher called for an apology from police.

The man was picked up by police at a silent demonstration in Leeds on Saturday, which he described as a pretty terrifying and upsetting experience, for holding a sign that made a joke about the governments proscription of the group Palestine Action from the last issue of the fortnightly satirical magazine.

He was arrested under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which prohibits support for a proscribed organisation.

Six hours later, after being questioned by counter-terrorism police, he was allowed to leave, under bail conditions that he attended no Palestine Action rallies, which, as he pointed out, he had never done and would be illegal under terrorism laws anyway. On Monday morning, a counter-terrorism officer called to tell him he would face no further action.

I found out later somebody said to one of the police: You know you can buy Private Eye in the newsagent just next to the van youre putting him in, are you going to arrest Ian Hislop ?

Mates For Pleasure (Le jouisseur) is likely a 1975 France/West Germany sex comedy by Jesús Franco
Starring Fred Williams, Lina Romay and Pamela Stanford    

Banned by the BBFC for 1975 cinema release.

Thanks to Mike who researched a previously unrealised ban of a Jess Franco film

Cinecenta, the prospective distributors of Le jouisseur, were mainly specialising in French porn films at the time of this ban.

They had the rights to 2 French soft-core films with extremely similar titles in 1975. Both of these films were released in France on the same day, June 11 ^th 1975:

• Les jouisseuses (Lucien Hustaix, 1975) which translates as The Pleasure Seekers

• Le jouisseur (Jess Franco, 1975) which translates as The Pleasure Seeker

The company also had the rights to The Gatekeeper's Daughter which was rejected only 6 days later on 17/11/1975. They managed to sneak Les Jouisseuses past the BBFC with cuts. If the BBFC database is correct, this was in February 1975, 4 months before its French cinema release. This submission was under the original French title.

When they came to submit Le Jouisseur (the Franco film) later in the year they clearly had to change the title to avoid confusion with their other film. So they gave it an English title and changed it slightly to make clear that it was a sex film. The Pleasure-Seeker wouldn't have conveyed that, but Mates for Pleasure does.

Coincidentally, they did exactly the same thing when they submitted L'Essayeuse to the BBFC in the following year. They used an English title and since The Trier means very little they gave it the more alluring title of She Tries Every Man . That was rejected too of course.

Incidentally, the treatment of these two similarly-titled films shows how censorship standards changed between the Stephen Murphy and James Ferman eras. Murphy passed Les Jouisseuses in February 1975 and Ferman rejected Le Jouisseur in November 1975. Ferman would also have rejected Les Jouisseuses (the Hustaix film) had it been submitted to him. Although it's a fairly silly sex comedy which was probably hard to take seriously even at the time, the basic premise concerns a scientist who discovers a molecule with causes sexual excitation. This passes around in pill form in the film, and there are numerous examples of characters slipping pills into other people's drinks and causing them to lose control and have sex with whoever is around when they otherwise wouldn't. So none of the sex is consensual.

So Mates for Pleasure is Le Jouisseur (Jess Franco, 1975). This may have been Ferman's first experience of a Franco film, and he rejected many of them subsequently.

The plot -- Count Roland loses interest in his new wife who turns out to run a porn company and approaches sex too clinically. (She refuses to sleep with him on their wedding night before measuring his dimensions and checking that he's free of STDs). While she's on a business trip he leaves and rediscovers his playboy past, accompanied by his manservant. This mainly involves sleeping with as many women as possible.

The whole thing is played for humour but there would have been several problem areas for the BBFC:

1. We're shown a flashback to his first sexual experience when he seduced the family's maid by showing her his penis. A voiceover tells us that he was 15 at the time.

2. The count's first conquest is the 15 year-old virginal daughter of a wealthy industrialist. This part of the story lasts for more than 30 minutes and the BBFC would likely have taken exception to all of it. He flies a helicopter close to her house so that he can spy on her sunbathing nude on the verandah, peers through her window while she pleasures herself, and poses as a butler so that he can have sex with her during a house party. The actress was clearly over 18, but the BBFC have never liked age play in sex films.

3. There is a conversation between three characters which involves a verbal misunderstanding. The girl's father says that he's been having sex with a female for 10 years already. Everyone thinks (wrongly) that he's referring to his (then) 15 year-old daughter. It does get resolved eventually, but the audience is given several minutes to think about the less savoury interpretation.

4. Rape is featured in a flippant way throughout. Two different women threaten the count that they will accuse him of rape unless he has sex with them, and the industrialist tells his young daughter that she would enjoy being raped.

5. One of the count's later conquests involves a character played by Lina Romay. They first meet when she gives a graphic striptease performance in a club, complete with zooms and close-ups of genital areas.

6. Romay's character tells us that her breasts are covered in glitter, but in fact it looks much more like they're covered in bruises. This is significant as her breasts appear quite frequently in the rest of the film.

7. There's a rather seedy atmosphere in the last part of the film due to all of the sex scenes being watched by voyeurs. At one point the voyeurs are spotted and they are rendered unconscious by being bashed over the head with a cosh. These scenes of violence are intercut with the sex scenes.

8. The BBFC would not have liked the excessive focus on sex toys. Vibrators, dildos and novelty condoms are shown and used repeatedly.

9. The generally misogynistic atmosphere -- the female characters are frequently referred to as whores, sluts and cunts.

To Kill a War Machine is a 2025 UK documentary by Hannan Majid, Richard York
Starring Huda Ammori, Richard Barnard and Shezana Hafiz

Originally uncut and BBFC 15 rated for a 2025 cinema release, but was banned a month later following the UK government ban of the campaign group Palestine Action.

Summary Notes

A documentary about the activist group Palestine Action.

Versions

banned run: 78:17s pal: 75:09s		UK: Banned by BBFC 2025 Rainbow Collective cinema release (rated 04/07/2025) The BBFC commented: To Kill a War Machine is a British documentary about the group Palestine Action, who were proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 with effect from 5 July 2025. The film was originally classified 15 uncut for cinema release on 5 June 2025, before the group was proscribed. Given the proscription of the organisation, and in accordance with legal advice, further distribution or exhibition of To Kill a War Machine is likely to constitute an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000. As such, the classification for this film was revoked on 4 July 2025. BBFC Guidelines and policy state that we will not classify material which is in breach of the criminal law. The film makers, Rainbow Collective, also took down an online release, saying in a statement: Following the vote in the House of Commons on 2nd July 2025 to proscribe Palestine Action, Rainbow Collective have taken the difficult decision to temporarily take down the online version of our film, To Kill a War Machine and authorise no further screenings of the film until further notice. As filmmakers with 20 years of experience documenting movements for social justice around the world, we produced To Kill a War Machine independently, within the law and had it certified for cinema release by the BBFC. The film itself does not become illegal, as it was produced and edited prior to proscription. However, future distribution of anything which could be interpreted as showing sympathy for or inviting support for a proscribed organisation will become illegal. It has always been Rainbow Collective's intention to tell critical and truthful stories with integrity. We never want our documentaries to expose our audiences or communities to danger from the state and, as such, the film will remain unavailable until we have absolute legal assurance that it can be distributed within the law.
uncut run: 78:17s pal: 75:09s		UK: Uncut and BBFC 15 rated for images of real dead bodies and injury, criminal behaviour: 2025 Rainbow Collective cinema release (rated 05/06/2025 but banned from 04/07/2025)

A cinema ad for the vegan charity Viva!, seen in March and April 2025, featured a woman placing her sleeping baby in a cot while a lullaby played. After switching off a lamp, she turned around to see the baby in the cot. A silhouetted figure suddenly appeared standing over the cot and the room went dark. The woman switched on a light to reveal a man in a suit running a bottle of milk across the bars of the cot, which was now empty. The woman gasped and asked, What have you done with my baby? The man smiled, revealing misshapen, discoloured teeth, and replied in a low, gravelly voice, You cant keep your baby because we want your milk. The womans scream was cut off and the screen went black. The next scene showed a calf in a pen. The voiceover stated, Almost every dairy calf is taken from their mother shortly after birth so most of her milk can be sold to us. And what do you think happens to thousands of male babies like this one? The words Dairy is Scary and the Viva! logo appeared on a black screen accompanied by a loud, metallic noise and the sound of something falling to the floor.

The ASA received 25 complaints, including one from The Dairy Council of Northern Ireland. The complainants challenged whether the ad was irresponsible, distressing, especially to those that had lost a child, and likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

Viva! said they aimed to raise awareness of standard practices in the dairy industry, particularly the removal of calves from their mothers shortly after birth. The ad was based on factual information and was intended to inform and encourage ethical choices, not to shock. They cited a survey which found that 59% of respondents did not know that cows must give birth in order to produce milk.

Viva! said the ad used metaphor and cinematic techniques, rather than graphic imagery, to draw a symbolic comparison between human and animal separation. The character of the bogeyman was a dramatic device used to prompt empathy. They said it was not intended to trivialise human grief or cause distress to those who had experienced child loss.

ASA Assessment:  Complaints upheld

The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers, and must not cause serious or widespread offence, fear or distress without justifiable reason. The fear or distress should not be excessive, and marketers must not use a shocking claim or image merely to attract attention.

The ad, which drew on conventions of horror films, was classified as suitable for audiences aged 15+ and appeared in cinemas. The ASA acknowledged that it was surreal and stylised in tone and did not feature graphic imagery. We understood that the approach was intended to encourage viewers to draw a direct emotional parallel between the separation of calves from their mothers and the imagined loss of a human baby. We considered, however, that while viewers would understand that the ad aimed to raise awareness of animal welfare, the nature of that comparison was likely to be seen as insensitive by many and in particular by those with experience of loss or trauma around parenthood.

The domestic scene of a mother putting her baby to bed abruptly changed with the arrival of a menacing bogeyman figure standing over the babys cot, and the babys subsequent disappearance. We considered that the bogeyman character created a strong sense of unease and threat. Although the ad did not depict the baby being harmed, and it was not shown being physically removed, we considered that its disappearance was likely to be seen as shocking and unsettling. We further considered that the statement You cant keep your baby, in combination with the sudden disappearance of the baby, was likely to be particularly upsetting for viewers with experience of child loss or fertility issues, in particular because the parallel with dairy industry practices was revealed only in the latter half of the ad. We considered that the late reveal, in combination with the unsettling imagery, was likely to increase the emotional impact and amplify distress. We considered that the message of the ad did not justify the distress likely to be caused by the approach, in particular to vulnerable audiences.

For those reasons, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause unjustified distress and serious and widespread offence.

The ad must not appear again in the form complained about.

Salaam BCR is a local radio station in the Manchester area.

Ofcom has just fined the radio station owners Markaz-Al-Huda Ltd for material broadcast on Salaam BCR on 17 October 2023 at 14:00 and 16:3

The fine of £3500 was imposed for breaches of the Ofcom censorship rules:

• Rule 3.2: “Material which contains hate speech must not be included in…radio programmes…except where it is justified by the context”;

• Rule 3.3: “Material which contains abusive or derogatory treatment of individuals, groups, religions or communities, must not be included in…radio services…except where it is justified by the context”; and

• Rule 2.3: “In applying generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context…Such material may include, but is not limited to, offensive language…discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of…race, religion or belief…) ...Appropriate information should also be broadcast where it would assist in avoiding or minimising offence”.

The offending programme was broadcast on Salaam BCR featuring a 38- minute speech delivered by Mr Shujauddin Sheikh. The speech was delivered to an audience outside the Karachi Press Club in Pakistan on 12 October 2023. During the programme, Mr Shujauddin presented his views on the ongoing situation in the Middle East and, in particular, what he considered to be a lack of response by Muslim leaders around the world to the suffering of Palestinian Muslims in Gaza.

Ofcom concluded this broadcast contained antisemitic hate speech and abusive and derogatory statements, which were potentially highly offensive and not justified by the context.

Russian lawmakers have passed controversial legislation that would dramatically expand the governments ability to punish internet users -- not for sharing forbidden content but for simply looking it up.

The new measures, which sailed through the Russian parliament and will take effect in September, will introduce fines for people who deliberately searched for knowingly extremist materials and gained access to them through means such as virtual private networks, or VPNs.

VPNs are already widely used in Russia to circumvent the many blocks on websites.

Russia defines extremist materials as content officially added by a court to a government-maintained registry, currently with about 5,500 entries, or content produced by extremist organizations ranging from the LGBT movement to al-Qaeda.

Until now, Russian law stopped short of punishing individuals for seeking information online; only creating or sharing such content is prohibited. The new amendments follow remarks by high-ranking officials that censorship is justified in wartime.

Similar legislation passed recently in neighboring Belarus, Russias close ally ruled by authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, and has been used to justify prosecution of government critics.

The fine for searching for banned content in Russia would be about a $65, while the penalty for advertising circumvention tools such as VPN services would be steeper -- $2,500 for individuals and up to $12,800 for companies.

The EU Commission presented a Roadmap on how it intends to ensure that law enforcement has access to citizens' data. EU politicians are seeking capabilities to decrypt private data by 2030.

The Roadmap is part of the ProtectEU strategy, first unveiled in April 2025. It stems from the work of the High-Level Group (HLG) carried on under the so-called Going Dark initiative . The group was tasked, by the EU Council in June 2023, to develop a strategic plan on access to data for effective law enforcement.

Specifically, the group's final report, published in March 2025, referred to end-to-end encryption as the biggest technical challenge to the investigative work of law enforcement agencies, explicitly targeting the use of the best VPN services, encrypted messaging apps, and similar tools.

The EU plan focuses on six key areas:

• Data retention. The EU Commission is expected to carry out an impact assessment with the aim of extending the EU's data retention obligations and reinforcing cooperation between service providers and authorities.
• Interception. Lawmakers seek to explore measures aimed at improving cross-border cooperation for lawful interception of data by 2027.
• Digital forensics. The goal here is to develop technical solutions that allow authorities to analyze and preserve digital evidence stored on electronic devices.
• Decryption. Next year, the EU Commission is set to present a Technology Roadmap on encryption to identify and evaluate decrypting solutions. These technologies are expected to equip Europol officers from 2030.
• Standardisation. The Commission is said to be committed to working alongside Europol, industry stakeholders, experts, and law enforcement practitioners to standardize the new approach to internal security.
• AI solutions for law enforcement. Lawmakers also seek to promote the development and deployment of AI tools by 2028. These solutions will enable authorities to lawfully and effectively process large volumes of seized data.

Other articles suggest that the EU is thinking along the lines of key escrow where the authorities mandatorily demand a copy of people's encryptions keys

A complaint against Chronic Cellars Space Doubt Zinfandel has been upheld by the alcohol industry's Complaints Panel.

The complaint was made as part of the Portman Groups independent proactive audit of the UK market, raised concerns that the term 'chronic' was associated with high-strength marijuana and that the name 'Space Doubt', was a play on words sounding similar to spaced out which had an association with drug taking.

The Panel also considered whether the name of the product, Space Doubt, alongside the name of the producer, Chronic Cellars, could be in breach of Code Rule 3.2(b)for creating an association with illegal behaviour.

The producer argued that the name Chronic was surfer lingo meaning the best and that the surfer slang reflected the founders passion for surfing and the idea of selecting the best grapes to create exceptional wines The producer also explained that the name Space Doubt was created to reflect the complexity and wonderment of the world, encouraging moments of contemplation with the double meaning reflecting on vineyard row spacing during replanting.

The Panel considered the meaning of the word chronic and noted that, whilst it had a number of meanings including persistent and the best, it could also refer to strong cannabis. Given the number of ways chronic could be interpreted, the Panel considered how the word was presented in the wider context of the rest of the packaging.

The Panel considered the front label, including the company name Chronic Cellars, a stylised image of a skeleton sitting on top of the Earth observing a planet and the brand name Space Doubt alongside it. The Panel noted that the packaging was absent of any reference to surfing to give context to the intended meaning of Chronic as explained by the producer. The Panel noted that the brand name Space Doubt sounded phonetically like spaced out, a phrase commonly used to infer impairment due to the effects of illicit drugs.

The Panel considered all of the elements of the packaging including the word chronic in the context of being spaced out and the positioning of the skeleton, which was sitting cross-legged in a relaxed pose staring into space, and concluded that whilst each element could have been acceptable in isolation, taken together they gave an overall impression of an association with illicit drugs. The Panel also considered that because the packaging created an association with illicit drugs and alluded to the effects of cannabis use, the product packaging also indirectly created an association with illegal behaviour. Accordingly, the complaint was upheld under Code Rules 3.2(c) and 3.2(b).

Ofcom has commenced investigations into two pornographic services - Itai Tech Ltd and Score Internet Group LLC - under our age assurance enforcement programme.

Under the Online Safety Act, online services must ensure children cannot access pornographic content on their sites. In January, we wrote to online services that display or publish their own pornographic content to explain that the requirements for them to have highly effective age checks in place to protect children had come into force. We requested details of services' plans for complying, along with an implementation timeline and a named point of contact.

Encouragingly, many services confirmed that they are implementing, or have plans to implement, age assurance on around 1,300 sites. A small number of services chose to block UK users from accessing their sites, rather than putting age checks in place.

Certain services failed to respond to our request and have not taken any steps to implement highly effective age assurance to protect children from pornography.

We are today opening investigations into Itai Tech Ltd - a service which runs the nudification site Undress.cc - and Score Internet Group LLC, which runs the site Scoreland.com. Both sites appear to have no highly effective age assurance in place and are potentially in breach of the Online Safety Act and their duties to protect children from pornography. Next steps

We will provide an update on both investigations on our website in due course, along with details of any further investigations launched under this enforcement programme

 

Update: Low Scores

2nd July 2025. See article from ofcom.org.uk

Ofcom has closed its investigation of scoreland.com after the website introduced age/ID verification. The website now requires that UK users subscribe using a credit card (no debit cards) before content can be viewed. Visitors from other countries can see teaser images and can pay via several other options.

Ofcom writes:

In response to our investigation, Score Internet Group LLC have taken steps to implement highly effective age assurance to ensure compliance with their duties under Part 5 of the OSA.

As such, Ofcom is satisfied that the conduct that led to the opening of the investigation has ceased and we do not consider it appropriate to continue our investigation. We have therefore closed it without making any findings as to Score Internet's compliance with its duties, either currently or prior to its confirmation that it had taken steps to comply with the OSA.

Night School (aka Terror Eyes) is a 1981 US slasher by Ken Hughes.
With Leonard Mann, Rachel Ward and Drew Snyder.  

Cut by the BBFC for an X rated 1981 cinema release. Released uncut on pre-cert VHS only to be banned as a video nasty. Cut by the BBFC for an 18 rated 1987 VHS. The BBFC finally passed the film uncut with an 18 rating for 2025 Blu-ray. Uncut and MPAA R rated in the US.

Summary Notes

A Boston police detective investigates a series of gruesome decapitations of various college coeds commited by a helmeted, black-leather clad serial killer which leads him to suspect a well known anthropology professor as well as his female live-in assistant.

Versions

uncut run: 88:35s pal: 85:02s		UK: Uncut and BBFC 18 rated for strong bloody violence, injury detail: 2025 Warner Bros (RB) Blu-ray (rated 06/03/2025) at UK Amazon #ad titled Night School US: Uncut and MPAA R Rated for: 2017 Warner R0 Blu-ray titled Night School at US Amazon 2011 Warner R1 DVD-R titled Night School via UK Amazon and at US Amazon US Amazon Video (US only) titled Night School at US Amazon
cut cut: 1:16s run: 87:03s pal: 83:34s		UK: Passed 18 after 1:16s of BBFC cuts for: 1993 Vipco VHS 1987 Guild VHS The BBFC cuts were: stabbings and girls being threatened with knives during the changing room and cafe murders
uncut run: 88:28s pal: 84:56s		UK: Released uncut on pre-cert video for: UK Guild VHS The uncut Guild VHS was released in February 1983. It was banned as a video nasty in March 1984. It was dropped from the list in June 1985
cut cut: run: 88:24s pal: 84:52s		UK: Passed X (18) after BBFC cuts for: 1981 cinema release

Promotional Material

They work by day, take a full schedule of classes all night and somehow find time for study and an occasional date. Women in the evening curriculum at Bostons distinguished Wendell College do a lot to get ahead in life. But theres someone who will go to even greater lengths. Someone who will do anything to get a head.

A killer whose m.o. is the ritualistic decapitation of victims makes terror a required course at Night School, directed by Kenneth Hughes (Casino Royale 1967) and starring Rachel Ward (The Thorn Birds; After Dark, My Sweet) in her screen debut. Leonard Mann plays the homicide lieutenant assigned to the puzzling case. He has hunches, not clues. Suspects, not evidence. And a rising body count. Finals are coming early this year at Wendell. And for those who dont make the grade, heads will roll.