The world's biggest porn site is set to block millions of users starting next week.
Last year, Pornhub dominated headlines after the UK's Online Safety Act (OSA) introduced new regulations requiring users to verify they're over 18 before accessing adult websites. This meant users could no longer simply click through and would need to hand over personal information to access the website's content.
Around the same period, the US banned Pornhub across more than a third of its states, while concerns mounted that France's restrictions could trigger a domino effect throughout Europe.
Meanwhile, the UK has continued to clamp down its grip on explicit online content, including plans to reclassify 'choking' pornography so that it carries the same legal penalties as content that involves minors and terrorism.
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LADbible's 'For F**k's Sake' campaign reports that 77% of the Gen Z population admits to watching pornography, with 19% saying they watch it daily, so the new rules are set to have a major impact.
Now, the X-rated giant has announced it will lock out UK users starting next week.
Pornhub's parent company, Aylo, stated that changes to the UK's OSA requiring age verification have 'not achieved its goal of protecting minors' and have instead pushed users to 'darker, unregulated corners of the internet.'
Even though the BBC reports Pornhub remains Britain's top adult site, Aylo claims user numbers have plummeted as people either refuse to hand over personal information or found other options. In October, PornHub traffic has fallen by 77% since the law took effect, Aylo noted.
Starting 2 February, only users who have created a Pornhub account will be able to access its content.
Users will need to sign up and verify their ID before the cutoff date if they want to continue accessing content on Pornhub as well as its sister sites, YouPorn and RedTube.
Anyone attempting to visit Pornhub after 2 February who isn't a member will be met with a blocking 'wall' instead of the homepage.
Alex Kekesi, head of community and brand at Aylo, called it a ‘difficult decision’ to make.
"Our sites, which host legal and regulated porn, will no longer be available in the UK to new users, but thousands of irresponsible porn sites will still be easy to access," she said.
The UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, reported that tougher age checks were succeeding at preventing children from accessing inappropriate material.
"Porn services have a choice between using age checks to protect users as required under the Act, or to block access to their sites in the UK," said a spokesperson for Ofcom. "We’ve taken strong and swift action against non-compliance, launching investigations into more than 80 porn sites and fining a porn provider £1 million, with more to come."
They added: “We will continue our dialogue with Aylo to understand this change to its position. Any changes to the law around device-based age assurance is a matter for Government."
Ethical Capital Partners owns Aylo, and company spokesman Solomon Friedman claims that Ofcom was 'working in good faith' to enforce the age verification process, though it wasn't as effective as first deemed.
Friedman said it's still easy to access pornography online without age verification and is now calling on tech giants like Apple, Google, and Microsoft to restrict access at a device level for minors.
"When access is controlled at the device level, it is efficient, it's effective, it's privacy-preserving," he explained.