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Governments around the world continue to clamp down on what we view online, and while most of the Western world still doesn't face the extreme cybercurtains that those in the likes of China and North Korea are locked behind, some are complaining that it's heading that way.
2025 was a dramatic year for the adult entertainment industry, with the pornographic megagiant that is Pornhub being hit particularly hard.
After a series of bans swept across the United States when parent company Aylo reportedly failed to comply with age verification laws, there was discord in France, threats in Italy, and a whole saga in the United Kingdom.
With the UK government enforcing the Online Safety Act 2023, Pornhub and other X-rated sites had to introduce third-party verification to ensure minors aren't able to access their library of content.
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Aylo clapped back and claimed it would simply push internet users into darker corners of unregulated pornography.
While Similarweb lists Pornhub as the internet's 22nd most-viewed website in the world (and easily the most-viewed porn website), there were arguments that it's been hemorrhaging traffic.
Research from media regulator Ofcom suggested that 8% of children aged between 8 and 14 were visiting pornographic websites every month, and as this coincided with calls for 'choking' porn to become a criminal offense, it all became a perfect storm.
Six months on, Aylo has confirmed that Pornhub is about to potentially go dark for millions of users.
Moving forward, those who haven't already gone through the age verification process and secured their own Pornhub account will be locked out of the site. Pornhub, Youporn, Redtube, and all other sites under the Aylo umbrella will instigate the same procedure, with new users supposedly being met by a 'wall'.
This is coming into effect as of February 2, 2026, meaning those who want to get their rocks off have just days to sign up for 'the Hub'.
Announcing this 'difficult decision', the adult overlord said the Online Safety Act has 'failed', with Alex Kekesi, Aylo Head of Community and Brand, explaining: "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."
One day we’ll look back at internet porn regulation (and the libertarian arguments against it) in the same way we look back at safety belts or smoking bans
— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) January 28, 2026
What took us so long?
Pornhub said in October that its traffic was down 77% in the UK since Julyhttps://t.co/X5RyZstGxr
For now, users are still able to prove they're over the age of 18 by handing over personal information like credit card details, and although Aylo has ensured it's all kept safe due to independent third-party verification, many are still wary.
Things haven't been helped by Pornhub confirming it was subjected to a data hack in December 2025.
Ethical Capital Partners (ECP) oversees Aylo, and according to spokesman Solomon Friedman, he's not totally blaming this 'difficult decision' on Ofcom. Even though he maintains the regulator was "working in good faith," he believes sites like Pornhub jumping through age verification hoops hasn't worked.
Friedman said: The problem here, however, is not the regulator - it is the law.
"You have a dedicated regulator working in good faith, but unfortunately, the law they are operating under cannot possibly succeed."
As Pornhub prepares to lock new users out in the United Kingdom, Friendman has directed his attention to tech giants like Apple, Google, and Microsoft, calling on them to remove the middleman and block minors from accessing these saucy materials at a device level.
