The UK is trying to resurrect its failed 'porn-block' law. It would force porn sites to use age-verification tech to keep under-18s out.

• The UK announced Tuesday it wants to force porn sites to use age-verification technology.
• Sites with user-generated content such as OnlyFans would be affected by the proposed law.

The UK is trying again to introduce a so-called "porn-block" more than two years after its last attempt failed.

Boris Johnson's government announced Tuesday it's adding a proposed porn-block law to the draft Online Safety Bill, which would force porn sites to use age-verification technology to keep under-18s out.

The government said: "This could include adults using secure age verification technology to verify that they possess a credit card and are over 18, or having a third-party service confirm their age against government data."

If sites failed to comply, the media regulator Ofcom would have the power to levy fines of up to 10% of companies' annual turnover, and would be authorized to block them entirely.

The legislation covers both commercial porn sites and sites that host "user-generated content," such as OnlyFans.

Johnson's government earlier proposed legislation requiring porn sites to use age verification, in the Digital Economy Act of 2017. It was slated to come into force in April 2018 but was delayed twice before being scrapped in October 2019.

"The Digital Economy Act objectives will be delivered through our proposed online harms regulatory regime," Nicky Morgan, culture secretary, told The Huffington Post at the time.

The government's previous attempt to introduce the porn-block was met with fierce criticism from privacy activists and freedom of expression advocates. One major criticism was that the legislation would create a trove of user-data that would be vulnerable to hackers.

Jim Killock, executive director of digital rights organization Open Rights Group, told the BBC that the new version of the porn-block was no different than the old one.

"There is no indication that this proposal will protect people from tracking and profiling porn viewing," Killock said. "We have to assume the same basic mistakes about privacy and security may be about to be made again."

The Online Safety Bill is expected to reach the House of Commons in early March.